


Moondance

by caleyedoscope



Series: Claire de Lune [3]
Category: DBSK|Tohoshinki|TVXQ, SHINee, SMTown, So Nyuh Shi Dae | Girls' Generation, Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M, M/M, Patricia Briggs - Freeform, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 21:26:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caleyedoscope/pseuds/caleyedoscope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unknown entity infiltrates the pack and rips Jaejoong from its bonds whilst simultaneously disrupting the one that makes Jaejoong and Yunho mates. Desperate to fix it, Yunho and Jaejoong join the Marrok’s pack and are entangled in magic they aren’t sure they’ll survive. Changmin is left in charge as Alpha and must deal with a new wolf claiming to be Minho’s mate and all the trouble that she brings along with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

“What is this?”

“A _wolf_ , Yunho. Move aside, she needs to eat.”

“Kim Jaejoong.”

“Move. Now.”

Yunho flails, a little helpless as his order washes over his mate, useless, and he huffs. Pouts. “This is my pack.”

“And now she’s a part of it. Here. Eat this.” Jaejoong’s tone of voice is a lot softer as he speaks to the girl, who’s maybe eighteen, if Yunho’s very quick estimate is correct. She’s dirty and smells something awful to his werewolf nose, but Jaejoong’s doing a wonderful job ignoring her appearance. It makes Yunho a tad jealous, even if the sight of Jaejoong coaxing the wild wolf girl to eat some food makes Yunho’s heart clench. His mate is so wonderful.

_You can’t flatter me into getting your way_.

“I’m not,” Yunho soothes, hand on Jaejoong’s waist, “but I have no idea what is going on right now. Was something chasing her? Is my pack in danger?”

Jaejoong would have told him, Yunho knows that, but hearing it from his mouth will do wonders to calm his wolf. At the very least, the sound of Jaejoong’s voice will soothe his oncoming migraine.

“No danger. Not yet, anyway,” Jaejoong growls, and then pats the girl on the shoulder when she flinches at his tone. “I’m not mad at you. You’re safe here.”

“They’ll find me,” she says.

A slight pause, in which Yunho thinks _oh god what now_ , but Jaejoong shakes his head. “No one looking to harm anyone. Right?”

“You can’t make me go back there.”

“Just eat,” Jaejoong soothes.

_Jaejoong, where is she from?_ It certainly sounds like a serious situation, something that calls for an Alpha, not dinner. But his question is ignored.

“After you’re done you can have a bath or a shower, whichever you prefer, alright? You’ll be clean again in no time.”

She wrinkles her nose at him, tearing into another piece of raw meat with her teeth. “We don’t like being clean. We have to mask our scent.”

“They won’t find you here. Not unless you want to be found, I promise. You need to clean up.”

It takes some more coaxing, but Jaejoong eventually convinces the young wolf to take a shower. He sends her back in twice, unsatisfied with her definition of “clean” until finally he runs bath water, sitting at the tub of bubbles and washing her himself until her skin is a healthy shade of freshly-scrubbed pink. Yunho’s impressed that the nakedness doesn’t seem to bother her.

He hands over some of Taemin’s clothes because he doesn’t want to leave the new wolf alone with Jaejoong and Taemin’s happen to be sitting on top of the washer. They’re too big but the girl breathes them in grinning, wrapping the plaid shirt around her happily.

“Your hair’s a mess,” Jaejoong clucks, “Let’s go back into the kitchen, I’ll cut it for you. There’s no salvaging it from the tangles.”

“Jaejoong,” Yunho starts.

“Yunho, she’s not going to hurt me. Unless you’re going to help, go away.” _Text Changmin. Her name’s Sulli. I’m sure he can find something out about her. Enough to satisfy your wolf, anyway_.

_This is totally unfair_ , Yunho pouts into their bond, but he reaches for his phone anyway, texting the third most powerful wolf in his pack. Changmin responds almost immediately, promising to dig around for some information as soon as his meeting is done.

Yunho would have also texted Jinki, his second, but he had left just yesterday for his honeymoon with Yoona and Yunho knows better than to bother him. They’d be back in a two weeks anyway and Yunho’s sure the problem will still be here. This isn’t something that’ll be resolved in a day.

_I’ll make it up to you later,_ Jaejoong says and Yunho barely contains his wolf from leaping at Jaejoong and making _later_ happen right now.

_Promise_ , Jaejoong soothes, but his grin tells Yunho he’s enjoying his mate’s obvious distress.

_Jerk_ , Yunho thinks, and has to walk away when Jaejoong sticks out his tongue, and not in a rude way. God, his mate is sexy.

—

The first crisis with their new wolf comes a half hour after Jaejoong’s tucked a blanket around her and given her a mug of tea.

But it’s not a problem Yunho would have foreseen.

Minho comes downstairs, no doubt sensing that the whirlwind of emotions has calmed and makes for the couch. His intent to introduce himself to Sulli is clear, but as soon as he lays eyes on her, his jaw drops, color draining from his face. “What—“ he starts.

Before Yunho can ask “oh god is she a serial killer? What did I miss?” the girl’s on her feet and in complete contrast to Minho’s expression, a smile spreads across her face as she grips his hands and breathes happily, “ _Mate!_ My mate!”

“What—“ Jaejoong starts, jaw joining Minho’s on the floor.

“But,” Minho starts, and there are tears in his eyes.

“Mate!” Sulli says brightly, “We found you!”

“But,” Minho stutters, taking an involuntary step back.

But Seohyun. Yunho thanks his lucky stars she’s working.

He’s long since dissolved their temporary mate bond that had to be put there to keep a vampire from taking control of her mind. Letting go hadn’t been pretty for either Minho or Seohyun and Yunho knows the two of them have been seriously discussing a relationship and regularly polling their wolves on mate status. But apparently their feelings were only an echo of what he had constructed—that or Sulli is lying through her teeth, though by Minho’s ghostly expression his wolf apparently likes the idea of Sulli a lot more than he likes the idea of Seohyun and it’s scaring the crap out of Minho. _Sulli’s way to young to be mating,_ Yunho’s wolf thinks, and Yunho has to agree. Though perhaps she looks younger than she is? It’s hard to tell with werewolves since they don’t age much (if at all) after being changed.

“Well, shit,” Jaejoong says, “this is unexpected.”

“I,” Minho stutters.

Jaejoong’s fingers go around Sulli’s and he gently pries her off, whispering in her ear about how it’s a little complicated. “We’re mates,” Sulli says, “it’s not complicated.”

“No, it is, though. You need to give him time. He’s…he’s with someone else.”

“But we’re _mates_.”

Yunho sees this turning bloody very fast; jealous mates have very predictable behavior. “Sulli,” he says, calling on his wolf to make her obey, “you need to back off and give him time. Minho,” he beckons and then walks out, satisfied as he hears Minho follow him.

“What did you feel?” Yunho asks, as soon as they’re in the dining room, doors closed behind them. He’d started keeping radios and boom boxes in each room so that his pack could have private conversation when they wanted and he flicks it on now, some new boy band muting them to ears outside.

“Mate,” Minho answers immediately, “My wolf says she’s my mate but I—I love Seohyun. I thought Seohyun was my mate. I don’t know what to think.”

“Your wolf didn’t think much of Seohyun?”

“He likes her!” Minho insists, “He just said…to be patient.”

“Clearly with reason. And Seohyun?”

“Seohyun was waiting. She’s still…hesitant after the vampire.”

Yunho blows out a breath. Honestly, in terms of mating his pack takes the cake. They have the _worst_ luck.

“I don’t,” Minho starts, “what do I say? What do I say to her?”

“Whatever you feel. And if you don’t know, then tell her that. We’ll keep Sulli off your back until you’re ready to face her. Alright?”

“My wolf doesn’t want that. He wants—he wants her.”

“Well, tell him to learn some patience.” Yunho makes it an order, waiting until Minho’s eyes flash gold and he bows his head in submission. “Seohyun isn’t going to take this well.”

“I know.”

“You will not rush into anything.”

“I swear.”

Satisfied, Yunho rests a hand on Minho’s shoulder. “Fine, then. Do you want to stay here and we can have Sulli stay at Changmin’s or do you want to go there and she can stay here?”

“No! No, don’t send her away. I won’t do anything, I promise. Just…let her stay in the house. I don’t want her…apart. From me.”

“You have it so bad,” Yunho says, after a moment of studying Minho’s face and trying to figure out the best way to handle this. “Alright, then, I’ll give you a chance. But you screw up once—just once—she goes to stay with Changmin and Junsu.”

“I won’t,” Minho promises, “I really won’t.”

“Let’s hope not.”

 

—

 

Fate does not serve them well. Yunho is celebrating their successful negotiations by pinning his mate up against the wall and kissing him senseless when he hears a car in the driveway. Normally he would have recognized its owner right away, but because Jaejoong’s fingers are threatening to slide down his pants (like how his tongue is basically sliding down his throat,) Yunho’s a little distracted.

And he gets temporarily mad when Jaejoong suddenly pulls away. “What?”

Alarm pulses through their bond and through the link Yunho has to Seohyun as her Alpha before he realizes what’s happening. Jaejoong beats him down the stairs (because Yunho has to button his jeans back up,) and he barrels into the kitchen to find his mate ripping Sulli off of a very shocked Seohyun. There’s a spatter of blood on Seohyun’s arm, bite marks healing even as the first drops of red splash onto the tile floor.

Yunho has to take a moment to calm his wolf, because Seohyun is in his pack and Sulli is not and his wolf does not take kindly to other things hurting wolves (or people) that belong to him. Jaejoong has Seohyun in hand, pressing his hand against a wound on her head that’s also already healing so Yunho turns to Sulli.

He calls on as much of his wolf as he can without him taking over and watches as Sulli trembles, throwing herself on the floor to escape the force of Yunho’s presence.

“She is mine,” Yunho says, as calmly as he can manage, “my wolf. Pack. You do not hurt what is mine.”

He’s all for bringing Sulli into his pack, eventually, because that would help him keep her under control until they have all this figured out. But it’s not an emergency and damned if he is going to let her slide past all the rules he has in place for joining it.

“Get up,” he orders her, “walk.”

He ushers her into the spare bedroom (their last unoccupied one,) and orders her to stay there until another wolf comes to get her. He doesn’t stay to yell at her more, though he’s tempted, because Seohyun’s grief pangs through his link to her and he hurries back to the kitchen.

Clearly, Jaejoong had told her why Sulli had just tried to tear her face off and Seohyun isn’t happy about it. She doesn’t leave Jaejoong’s arms, but relaxes as Yunho rests his hands on her and lets the calm and love he can offer soothe her raw emotions.

“I don’t understand,” she whispers, after a good ten minutes of sobbing, “I thought. I thought _Minho_ …” she hiccups as Jaejoong runs a hand down her back. “I want to talk to him.”

“I think you need to calm down. I think everyone does. I’ll let you see him in a bit. Think about what you need to say, first. Then it will happen, alright?”

He doesn’t need to make it an order. Seohyun’s always been smart, alway known what’s sensible and Yunho relaxes as she nods, letting Jaejoong lift her up into his arms to carry her upstairs.

“Want me to run some water? I have some expensive bubble bath I’ve been hiding. I’ll let you use it.”

Yunho follows them upstairs and he slides a hand across the small of Jaejoong’s back before his mate turns into their bedroom (and bathroom that houses a jacuzzi no one is allowed to use without permission.) Minho’s door opens before Yunho can knock and Minho looks incredibly worried. Clearly he’d heard everything.

“They can’t stay in the same house, Minho.”

“But—“

“I can order Sulli to leave Seohyun alone and you can even ask Sulli _nicely_ and she’ll listen to us both but that doesn’t mean she’s going to like it. And if she’s upset about it, you and your wolf will be unhappy and perhaps want to hurt whatever is hurting her which would be Seohyun. Or me. Or even Jaejoong. And that will not go well for anyone.”

He doesn’t need to elaborate on what happens when people hurt Jaejoong.

“So you need to pick. One of them goes to stay at Jinki’s until this is sorted. Think about it and let me know.”

He knows which one Minho will pick. Regardless of how sudden, mate is mate, even if it’s not officially acknowledged yet. And as much as other people might protest, it is Minho’s decision and not the girls’—definitely not Sulli’s.

Jaejoong has Seohyun laughing when Yunho walks into their bathroom, bubbles practically overflowing onto the tiles and Yunho smiles. “Can I get in with you, precious?”

He leaves his clothes on, ignoring Jaejoong’s mental screeching through their bond ( _Jung Yunho, those are expensive pants!_ ) as he’d make it up to his mate later. Seohyun doesn’t have anything on, but nakedness is nothing to a werewolf pack and certainly nothing to a wolf and her Alpha.

“I know what you’re going to say,” she says, as she settles onto his lap. Jaejoong’s arms come around him from behind and Yunho feels his mate’s chin rest on his shoulder. “I can’t stay.”

“Sensible as ever,” Yunho tells her. “I’m so sorry, love.”

“She’s his mate,” Seohyun says, “I don’t like it but that’s how it is.”

“You can stay with Changmin. Or Jinki, if you want. Even Kibum.”

There’s a pause in which Yunho can sense her hesitate about it for a moment before she asks, “Do I have to stay with one of them?”

Yunho frowns, confused for a moment, heart fluttering in worry. _I hope she doesn’t have a secret boyfriend she wants to live with_ , Jaejoong says into their bond. The Alpha has a very hard time not snorting.

Ever since the vampire problem a few years back, Seohyun had dropped the lease on her apartment and stayed in one of the house's guest rooms. It had been to be close to Minho while they had a temporary bond and also because she still had nightmares about the vampire controlling her even if she doesn't tell anyone except Junsu. Yunho’s pack often forgets that as Alpha, Yunho gets flashes of things they deal with, especially the more emotional things, unless they purposefully cut him off as Jaejoong had done so many years ago, so Yunho knows. He knows all too well how upsetting the whole ordeal had been and that she still isn't over it. He knows she can't live alone. Not right now. "Where else would you stay?"

"I...with Siwon."

"You'd want to stay with a different pack?"

"I don't mean to offend you," Seohyun says, “But I don’t…Jinki just got married. I don't want to be around them. I don’t want to be around my friend who got lucky and found a mate within the pack without even trying.”

Yunho had forgotten about that, momentarily.

“I don’t want to be around Changmin and Junsu; we all know they’re still as bad as newlyweds and will probably be that way forever. And Kibum—I don’t think we’d mesh very well.”

_She has a point_.

_I know_ , Yunho soothes. "I'll talk to Siwon and see if he has a place for you to stay."

Siwon’s a good alpha, Yunho knows, and the reality is they all have friends in that pack and she’ll be well looked after there. He isn’t going to have to worry.

They don’t say anything for awhile and he stays in the water until it starts to cool. Jaejoong wraps a towel around her as she stands up and helps her dry off, murmuring into her ear as she gets back into her clothes. Yunho searches for his link to Minho and after assessing that he’s calmed down tells her, “you can talk to Minho if you want. I ordered Sulli to stay in the bedroom so she won’t bother you.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll call Siwon right away.” There’s no sense in dragging it out; it will only become more dangerous that way. Sulli can only stay in one room for so long, especially since she’s not a part of his pack. Mating makes people do crazy things and if she’s clever enough to find a way around Yunho’s order the alpha has no doubt that’s exactly what she’ll do.

He strips himself of his own clothing once Seohyun and his mate have left, hanging them carefully on a rack and making sure the jacuzzi starts to drain. He finds something more comfortable than the suit he had been about to wear, since he doesn’t think he’ll be going to work today, and goes to find his cellphone. He’s lucky he can make his own hours at his architecture firm and texts his partner to let him know he’ll be working from home due to a family emergency. His partner isn’t a werewolf but he’s well aware of Yunho and his particular duties; maybe it’s because the man feels special knowing his secret, but he never complains when Yunho has an abrupt change of plans.

He can hear Jaejoong still talking to Seohyun upstairs and so after making sure Sulli is still in the room (Yunho finds her napping peacefully, a blissful smile on her face,) he goes to call Siwon.

The doctor alpha picks up after two rings.

“Yunho,” he greets, “it’s been forever.”

“It has,” Yunho agrees, “I wish I was calling to catch up but I have a favor to ask.”

“Anything,” Siwon says readily, “what’s up?”

 

—

 

Siwon sends Kyuhyun to pick up Seohyun and he arrives in time for dinner, just as Changmin walks up the porch, suitcase in hand. As the pack’s third, he and Junsu have a room in the house, but only live there half the time, the other days spent in a high rise condo in Seoul to make it easier on them, as they both have to be in the city for work.

“I brought a present for your mate,” Kyuhyun says, “where is he?”

“Junsu’s at practice. What is it?”

Yunho pretends not to see what Kyuhyun pulls out of his pocket and also pretends not to hear Changmin’s outburst. They’re practically friends and even if Changmin punches Kyuhyun because of his insinuations, Yunho knows they won’t do actual damage to one another. Changmin’s blushing, though, as he races with the package to their room and Kyuhyun clears his throat after knocking his nose back into alignment before it can heal crooked. Yunho hands him a handkerchief for the blood.

“Where’s Seohyun?”

“With Jaejoong.” He observes Kyuhyun for a moment, recalling the last time he’d been in the house. Yunho distinctly remembers being able to smell Kyuhyun’s attraction to her but he knows if it were a problem Siwon wouldn’t have sent him or even agreed to let Seohyun stay with his pack. “Thank you for coming to get her.”

Kyuhyun shrugs, “We didn’t think she’d want to hang around any longer than necessary.”

Changmin’s blush is gone when he comes back down, an arm around Seohyun’s shoulders and a bag in one hand.

“Hey beautiful,” Kyuhyun grins, and Yunho has to swallow down his want to throw Kyuhyun out of his house because the attraction to Seohyun is still there; he’s not even bothering to hide it.

_It’s fine_ , Jaejoong says into their bond, as he comes down the stairs as well. He has two more bags in one hand with her favorite pillows and blankets wrapped up in a bundle in the other. _Kyuhyun’s capable of controlling himself_.

_I know_ , Yunho returns. But that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Seohyun gives Changmin a hug and Yunho hears him tell her, “Junsu says goodbye too. We’ll come and see you when you’ve settled.”

She’s trying her best not to cry, keeping her emotions in check, but it’s hard to hide your feelings in a pack and impossible to hide them from your alpha. “When you get there,” Yunho whispers to her, once she’s let go of Changmin and comes to him, “cry a lot, ok? Bury yourself in a bed and make Siwon call me out of worry. Insist on a lot of tea and hugs and chocolate, alright?” He cradles her head a moment.

“I will.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Kyuhyun offers and Yunho knows she smiles. That’s something, at least. She smells a little like Minho, like he’d held her for a moment too long as they said goodbye and Yunho’s heart breaks a little more.

“It’s ok to be sad for awhile. A long while, if that’s what it takes. Stay down there for as long as you need.” It’s as much for her sake as Minho’s. He means _stay until Minho and Sulli mate and probably a little bit after. Stay until you fall out of love with him._ A quiet sniff tells him she understands. “I’ll miss you. Call whenever you want and if you need me to visit I can.”

“Any of us,” Jaejoong offers. Anyone besides Minho.

“Okay.”

“If you want anything else tell us and we’ll ship it.”

Seohyun wipes at her eyes. “I’ll make a list.”

She sniffs all the way out the door and Yunho puts his arms around Jaejoong’s waist, watching her wave from the front seat as Kyuhyun turns Siwon’s very expensive car around and drives away.

“I’ll kill him if he does anything.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jaejoong chides, though Yunho knows Wolf is agreeing and he takes a moment to mentally pat him on his head. “Don’t gang up on me,” Jaejoong growls, “that’s a dangerous thing to do. Kyuhyun will behave; Siwon wouldn’t have taken Seohyun in otherwise.”

“Can’t you just let me be a protective alpha?”

“Protective, yes. Bullheaded and wrong? No.”

Yunho pouts; he’s almost immediately kissed. Jaejoong cups his cheeks, smiles when Yunho encircles his waist again and pulls him in close. _We’re all going to miss her_ , Jaejoong says into their bond.

_Distract me_? Yunho asks, and slides a hand underneath Jaejoong’s shirt. It’s hard to feel one of his wolves travel farther and father away and know that she’s not coming back any time soon. He can’t cut her off from him because of that (and doesn’t want to,) but if he can temporarily block his pack while he has sex he’d feel a hell of a lot better.

They make it up to the second floor before their clothes start to come off, and Yunho cuts the pack off from their feelings and emotions before it can cause problems. That’s a mistake he’ll never make again, for sure. _Hello? A little focus on me, please._ Yunho laughs, kissing away Jaejoong’s pout and sliding a hand down to palm his mate’s cock until it’s obvious Yunho isn’t thinking of anything except his mate and how much he loves him and wants to make him feel good.

They’re in the shower when Yunho hears Junsu come home and he leaves Jaejoong to finish scrubbing, stepping out of the bathroom and into a pair of sweatpants.

Changmin’s already got his mate wrapped up in a hug, patting down Junsu’s hair as he whines, “I didn’t even get to give her a hug goodbye.” There’s a bit of stage makeup, black kohl, smudged at the corner of Junsu’s eye and Yunho watches Changmin thumb it, wiping it away before kissing Junsu, no doubt pulsing comfort through their bond.

Yunho walks up behind them and waits patiently until Junsu’s had his full of Changmin and goes to his Alpha, frown seemingly permanent. “Make me not mad at the new wolf.”

“I’m going to need you to keep her emotions in check so Minho can have some time to adjust to this. You can’t be mad at her.”

Junsu struggles with this for a moment, internally speaking with his wolf before his smile is back. “I get to be all Changmin’s mate on her? Ok.”

Recently, and Yunho can say he actually likes this particular turn of events, Junsu has started to assert himself more. Something—and Junsu still isn’t telling him what, though Changmin assures him he doesn’t need to know—had happened between Junsu and another pack member that had rubbed him the wrong way. Ever since then he’d taken to demanding a little more respect for being Changmin’s mate. It’s something he should have done a long time ago.

“I’ll introduce you to her,” Changmin says.

They go off hand in hand, Junsu telling Changmin about the new female lead they found for his musical and how she has the greatest voice but not to worry—she’s ugly as hell, so Changmin doesn’t need to be jealous.

The shower is still running upstairs, so Yunho heads into the kitchen to make coffee, smiling as he remembers that one time he’d tried to make coffee and had forgotten to add the water, resulting in a burnt coffee pot and very pissed off mate. But it had turned out fine and Yunho had even gotten a few kisses out of the deal, though it’s safe to say he’ll never forget again.

Measuring the grains teaspoonful by teaspoonful (because Junsu and Changmin will for certain want some once they smell it,) Yunho loses track of the sounds of Jaejoong upstairs, not realizing that he’s fading from their bond until Yunho’s about to press start on the machine.

_Jaejoong_? He asks, wondering why Jaejoong would be cutting him off. But there isn’t an answer and Yunho unplugs the coffee pot, thinking _god, what do you have planned now?_.

But his mate is silent and Yunho spins on his heel as their bond fades even more, dwindling even as Yunho takes the stairs two at a time. At the top, he falters, pain exploding in his chest and he screams, crumpling to the floor and tumbling back down the steps as Jaejoong disappears from his consciousness altogether.

He’s gone. _Dead?_ Yunho wonders, weak with heartbreak as he pounds relentlessly against the spot in his heart where Jaejoong used to be and his wolf howls in anguish and he thinks _oh god. Jaejoong. Jaejoong, where are you? Jaejoong!_

He blacks out before he finds an answer.

 

\---


	2. Two

Changmin hears Yunho scream, feels the utter horror and anguish of his Alpha echo through him and he’s running, Junsu already sobbing because of the pain echoing in the pack bond. Yunho’s passed out at the foot of the stairs, a bruise on his face healing and it doesn’t take long to surmise that he fell down them. But why? Yunho’s as sure footed as any of them.

“Where’s Jaejoong?” Changmin asks, as Junsu cradles Yunho’s head, tears soaking his face. The pain is almost unbearable and Changmin has to shake his head to think through the anguish ripping through the pack.

Yoochun appears at the top of the stairs, face white as a sheet, grip on the baluster tight as he starts to walk down. “What was that?”

“I don’t know.” _Why isn’t Jaejoong here?_ Yunho’s mate should have felt that tenfold and gotten to him first. Unless… Changmin peruses the pack bonds for a moment, feeling Jinki and Yoona and then Kibum, Jonghyun…but no Jaejoong. 

Jaejoong is gone. 

Yoochun seems to come to same conclusion just as Changmin does and they race back upstairs together, slamming into the bathroom door and splintering it between the two of them. 

The water’s still running but Changmin feels a little relief flood through his veins when he hears Jaejoong sobbing behind the curtain. Yoochun wrenches it aside and Changmin swallows (and is even more confused than ever,) when he finds Jaejoong nearly unable to breathe for tears as he clutches the side of the tub and shakes.

“Jaejae,” Changmin murmurs, “Jaejoong. What is it?”

Yoochun shuts the water off, grabbing the nearest towels and wrapping them around Jaejoong as Changmin lifts him, cradling his head. “Jaejoong-ah.”

It takes five minutes before Jaejoong gets enough air in his lungs to whisper, “ _gone_. Yunho’s _gone._ ”

Yoochun frowns. “Jaejoong, Yunho just fainted. He’s down stairs.”

“No,” Jaejoong moans, “No, you don’t understand. I can’t _feel_ him, Changmin. He isn’t there. He’s dead. He must have died.”

Except that Yunho is very much alive, however unconscious. Changmin is positive of that. So what happened? 

Minho appears in the doorway. “Get some clothes for him,” Changmin orders. Clearly Jaejoong isn’t going to believe him unless Changmin lets him see for himself that his mate really is alive. Not that it will explain any of this.

Jaejoong’s lost his will to do anything and it’s difficult to carry werewolf deadweight down a flight of stairs, but he manages, holding Jaejoong close as he continues to sob in despair. Minho comes back with shirt and pants and they ease Jaejoong into them together before carrying him into the living room to where Junsu had moved an unconscious Yunho to the couch.

His mate is pale, fear rolling off of him in waves and Changmin sends him as much encouragement as he can without losing focus on their current task. “Hey. Jaejoong, look. Yunho’s right there. And he’s alive.”

“No,” Jaejoong screams, “no no no.”

Changmin’s cell phone buzzes from his pocket. “Can you get that?” he asks Yoochun, “It’s probably Jinki.”

Their second probably felt the pain of their Alpha twice as hard as Changmin had, but he lets Yoochun take care of it, focused instead on Jaejoong. He sets his Alpha’s mate on the floor next to the couch, taking his hand and laying it on Yunho’s chest above his heart. “Do you feel that?” Changmin demands, “That’s his heartbeat. Blood pumping through his body. He isn’t dead!” _At least not yet._ Jaejoong’s definitely missing from the pack, like he’d been ripped from them and Changmin knows the sorrow he’s feeling is from that. As his mate, Yunho must have felt it a million times more and unable to handle it, had blacked out.

Changmin thinks he’s probably going to have to call Eric.

“Jaejoong, come on. Focus!” It take a good fifteen minutes for Jaejoong to calm down. A childlike fascination (fear) creeps into his face when he realizes that indeed, Yunho is alive. 

“Why can’t I feel him?” Jaejoong asks. He can’t stop touching Yunho, fingers running all over his body and palms cupping his cheeks. Jaejoong finally stretches himself out next to his mate, looking small and scared and so unlike the Jaejoong Changmin’s come to know that for the first time in years, Changmin wants to crumble into a pile on the floor and cry.

“I don’t know,” Changmin whispers, “Oh, Jaejae. I’m so sorry. I have no idea.”

Yoochun nudges Changmin’s shoulder, phone in hand. “It’s Eric.”

Junsu takes his place, leaning in to sing to Jaejoong and stroke his hair as they wait for Yunho to wake up. 

Changmin takes a deep breath before putting the phone to his ear and walking into the kitchen. “Hello?”

“Jinki called me,” Eric’s voice says, and just the sound of it soothes Changmin’s emotions enough for him to get a mental handle on himself. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Changmin says honestly, though he recites the events as exactly as he can. “How could something like this happen?”

“I’ve heard of it,” Eric says, and there are sounds of him snapping his fingers at his wolves and grabbing car keys, “and it isn’t good. I’ll be there in two hours. Keep them together and don’t be surprised if Yunho doesn’t wake up. He’s in shock so someone will have to go into his subconscious to convince him Jaejoong’s not dead. He’s trying to hibernate so he doesn’t have to feel the pain.”

“But wolves don’t hibernate.”

“Exactly.”

_He’s trying to kill himself,_ Changmin surmised and a chill ran down his back. “But I thought we can only die if we drown?”

“Starvation works as well,” Eric tells him, “though it takes a very long time. But this way he doesn’t have to feel anything. I’ll be there soon, though, don’t worry. Just keep Jaejoong conscious and the rest of your pack away from them.”

“They won’t do anything.”

“I’m sure,” Eric says, but it’s clear he doesn’t think that at all. “Just be careful, Changmin.”

“I will.”

Jaejoong’s relatively calm when Changmin comes back into the room. Junsu’s still singing and it seems to have set a better mood. “What did he say?” Jaejoong asks, head pillowed right over Yunho’s heart as if he has to hear it to convince himself that Yunho isn’t dying. Changmin decides not to relay all of Eric’s information, just to be on the safe side. “He’s coming. With a solution.” Changmin hopes, anyway.

“Why can’t I feel him?”

“I don’t know. But—Jaejoong, I can’t feel you.”

Jaejoong cracks an eye open. 

“I can’t either,” Junsu whispers, and behind them Yoochun murmurs his own agreement. 

“Something,” _or someone_ , Changmin thinks to himself, “cut you off from the pack.”

“But…why?”

Changmin shrugs. “I’ll be alright, though. We’ll figure it out, I promise.” He lets Junsu go back to singing as tears start to well in Jaejoong’s eyes. They spill over onto Yunho’s shirt just as Changmin’s phone buzzes again. Kyuhyun’s name flashes across the screen and Changmin thinks suddenly: _Seohyun_.

But it’s not Kyuhyun on the other end. It’s another of Siwon’s wolves and it takes a moment for Changmin to place his name: Henry. “Dude,” he says, “Seohyun’s freaking out. Not even Kyuhyun’s singing is calming her down, what happened?”

“We’re not exactly sure, but someone ripped Jaejoong out of our pack bonds.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Is Siwon there?”

There’s a shuffle and then Siwon voice, calm as ever, asks Changmin for the full story. He relays it, leaving Siwon as confused as the rest of them before he puts Seohyun on the line.

“Changmin?” she sobs, and his heart breaks a little for her. 

“Hey, gorgeous. Hey, breathe. It’s ok, Jaejoong’s alive. They’re both alive.”

“Why can’t I feel him?”

“I don’t know. We don’t know anything, but don’t worry. Please don’t worry, ok? Eric’s coming and we’re going to fix it, I promise. You need to calm down. Let Siwon calm you down.”

It takes more convincing before he can tell when she let her guard down enough to allow another Alpha to soothe her. “I’ll call when I know anything, alright?”

“Alright.”

Siwon promises to keep Changmin updated and even says he’ll ask around for some information, as it sounds like no one knows much of anything, not even Eric. Changmin appreciates the effort; Siwon’s always been an outstanding individual. 

His phone buzzes again almost immediately and it’s Eric again. “Think really hard,” he says, “has there been anything strange lately? Anything odd or out of place that made you do a double take or wonder how it could happen?”

“What, like magic?”

“Exactly like that.”

Changmin frowns. “Well, it’s not magical, but there’s Sulli.”

“Who is that?” Eric’s voices asks.

“The new wolf.”

There’s a pause and Changmin realizes Yunho must not have had a chance to call Eric about that yet. 

“The what?” The Marrok asks, voice flat.

“It just happened today. I know Yunho was planning on calling you but this obviously happened before he had a chance. Jaejoong came home from a book signing with a wolf he’d found on the streets. A girl. Apparently she ran away from home—a home that we haven’t found yet—because she didn’t want to go to school. I think. I’m honestly not sure of the whole story except that when she got here she immediately claimed Minho as her mate.”

“What?” Eric asks, “but what about Seohyun?”

“Minho’s wolf agreed with Sulli, though he’s very upset about it and in a lot of turmoil. And Seohyun’s heart is broken so she’s staying with Siwon. Just got there actually. Sulli attacked Seohyun almost immediately though and Yunho had just gotten everyone settled when he fainted.”

He hears a sigh. “And where is Sulli now?”

Changmin blinks. “She’s…” he trails off. Well, that’s a good question. He staves off his anger, not willing to convict Sulli of anything if only for the sake of Minho. He finds her in the bedroom Yunho had left her in sitting serenely on the bed, hands folded, smiling. “Can I leave the room now?” Yunho must have ordered her to stay, Changmin surmised. Maybe he’d been suspicious too; that, or a little jealous of the attention she’d been getting from Jaejoong.

“She may not leave” Eric says through the phone, “I want to speak with her when I get there.”

“You may not leave,” Changmin echoes, even though Sulli is sure to have heard it herself. “I just wanted to make sure you were obeying Yunho’s order.”

“He’s going to be my Alpha,” Sulli says, like Changmin’s dumb, “Where is my mate? Can I see him?”

“I’ll see if he wants to talk to you,” Changmin says. Eventually. If Minho wants to talk to her than he can do so. Changmin’s not going to push for it, especially since Eric seems to be suspicious of her.

“I’ll text you when I’m near,” Eric says. “Don’t let anyone in or out.”

“Junsu has a cast dinner he has to attend tonight.”

“Put him on the phone, then.”

Changmin knows Eric’s not suspicious of his mate, but he doesn’t feel good about it until Junsu gives him a reassuring smile as he takes the phone and Eric starts to ask Junsu about anything he might have seen or heard. Thorough as ever, their Marrok. 

Jaejoong’s still crying, though silently, and his fingers are stroking Yunho’s cheek. “I don’t like this,” Jaejoong whispers, “I need to feel him. I need to— _Changmin_.”

“I know. I know, Jaejoong.” Changmin can’t imagine it. If he lost the piece of him that is Junsu, if he was suddenly unable to to feel that happy, soothing presence in his heart, he’d probably die of heartache on the spot. Every day is interesting because of Junsu. Changmin never wants that to go away. 

His mate comes back in the room, tucking Changmin’s phone back into his pocket and sits down in front of him, leaning back against Changmin. His hair tickles Changmin’s chin and he breathes it in, fighting back his own tears as he keeps a hand on Jaejoong’s back.

They don’t move or speak until Junsu has to leave. Changmin doesn’t know how much time has passed, but he doesn’t care. He’ll sit with his Alpha and his mate for as long as they need. Yunho still hasn’t stirred, though the color thankfully remains in his face, and Jaejoong’s finally stopped crying, just listening to his mate’s heart beat, fingers still against his skin. Changmin kisses Junsu goodbye like it’s their last, passionate and feverish and desperate; Junsu returns it. “Text me often, please.”

“Promise,” Junsu whispers, and lands a final kiss on Changmin’s cheek. “Be back as soon as I can.”

Changmin listens to Junsu’s car leave the driveway, heart heavy.

“He’ll come back,” Jaejoong murmurs, and Changmin can’t help but feel a pang of love (pride) because even as Jaejoong’s world is crashing down around him, he’s trying to make Changmin feel better.

“We don’t deserve you,” Changmin murmurs and rests his head against Yunho’s torso, unable to hold back his tears anymore. Jaejoong’s hand rests in his hair a moment and Changmin takes comfort that while he can’t feel Jaejoong in their pack bond, he’s at least still physically present.

_We’ll fix this_ , he thinks firmly, comforted by Yunho’s warmth and Jaejoong’s fingers, even in their darkest moments of despair, and falls asleep.

 

—

 

When he wakes up, the front door is opening and he’s on his feet, dizzy and discombobulated as Eric and Hyesung walk into the room. Another one of their wolves is behind them and Changmin thinks a moment before recognizing the psychologist that had been such a big help to Taemin. Andy. 

Changmin bows his head, well aware that as the Marrok’s third (or was he fourth?) Andy is still more dominate than Yunho. He waits until he’s patted gently on his head before looking up at them.

But Eric’s already kneeling by Jaejoong, who’s started to cry again, and Changmin swallows as he hears Eric promising to fix everything. He has tears of his own, clearly feeling Jaejoong’s pain and a glance at Hyesung confirms that the both of them are imagining how horrifying it must be.

“Where’s the new wolf?” Andy asks. If the situation weren’t so serious, Changmin imagines Andy would have a gentle smile on his face, one that would make anyone feel at ease. 

“I’ll take you to her.”

The walk down the hallway seems to take hours, Changmin all to aware of Andy’s gaze burning into his back, even as he steps aside to allow him into the guest bedroom. Sulli’s staring out the window and looks expectantly at them as they enter, probably hoping for Minho, obvious by the way her face falls when she sees he isn’t with them.

“Sulli,” Andy says, testing the name on his tongue, “won’t you sit?”

The order is so powerful, Changmin falls to the ground, gasping under the pressure until Andy lays a hand on him and it passes. “Sorry,” he murmurs, “We’re more upset about this than we thought. That wasn’t supposed to be for you. Stand up.”

Changmin turns his face away to be absolutely sure Andy doesn’t see his glare. That’s not a fight Changmin would win and he has no desire to even start it. He values his life far too much. 

“Sit on the bed,” Andy instructs, this time the order clearly meant for Sulli. “Is Sulli your real name?”

“Choi Jinri,” she answers, automatically. Changmin fights down an urge to spill his own name.

“And where are you from, Jinri?”

“Yangsan.”

Changmin raises an eyebrow. “Quite a hike for a young girl, isn’t it?”

Andy turns around to give him a look. “Why don’t you go check on Jaejoong?” The suggestion is laced with a firm order and Changmin nearly trips over his own feet in his haste to leave the room. His wolf is unhappy, but Changmin knows better than to be swayed. 

Eric’s on the phone when Changmin gets back to the living room, Hyesung and another of their pack in the kitchen bickering good-naturedly over the coffee pot and which buttons to press. “I’ll do it,” Changmin offers, and wheedles his way in between them.

“I don’t think we’ve ever met,” the other wolf says, pushing away bangs and holding out a hand. “I’m Junjin.”

“Changmin.”

“Oh, the heroic third. I remember this story.”

“Leave him alone,” Hyesung mutters, “he doesn’t want to deal with how annoying you are.”

“Am I annoying you? I’m not, right?”

“It’s fine,” Changmin assures him, “we’re all on edge.”

Junjin frowns at him. 

“I mean,” Changmin tells him, as he measures coffee grounds, “this is all very stressful and putting me on edge and so no matter how nice or kind anyone is I’m going to be annoyed because I’m barely holding it together, especially with my mate gone.” 

From halfway across the city, Changmin feels Junsu brush against their bond affectionately and Changmin wishes he could be the one sitting in a barbecue restaurant, loading in meat and soju like it’s his last few hours on Earth.

Junjin pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.

They’re silent after that, even as Changmin pours them coffee and gets cream from the fridge. He cleans up carefully, knowing it will please Jaejoong to have a spotless kitchen and whines when Junsu whispers into his mind that it doesn’t look like he can leave any time soon.

_Love,_ Changmin pouts, _I’m going crazy without you here. I can’t handle this alone_.

_Soon,_ Junsu promises, _soon._

Soon seems so very far away, and Changmin can’t get rid of his pout, even as he trudges into the living room. Minho had come down in the last few minutes and he pats the space next to him. The alternatives are Hyesung or sitting by himself and Changmin wants company right now: company and the comfort of his own pack not the Marrok’s. He and Minho had bonded over the last few years, something which Changmin is glad of, and Minho’s arm around his shoulder (as a friend, as an equal, however temporary,) is comforting. 

Eric comes back in when Changmin’s half way done with his cup of coffee and beckons with one hand. Minho gives him an encouraging pat on the back as Changmin slides his feet back into his slippers and follows Eric into the kitchen.

“I need you to mentally prepare yourself.”

Changmin frowns, “For what?”

“We can’t resolve this in a day.”

The pain of not having Jaejoong is suddenly a lot worse at the thought of having to deal with it for an extended period of time. “I don’t,” Changmin falters, “I don’t know how long we can hold it together. It can’t take a long time.”

“Thus why I am proposing an alternative. I just talked to Jinki.”

Changmin nods.

“He’s a bit—preoccupied, obviously, and he needs to spend time with Yoona to cement their bond with each other. He can’t be bothered with extra responsibilities right now. I know Yunho and Jaejoong didn’t spend much time together at first, but if you’ll remember after the gumiho issue was settled, they spent a fair amount of time away from all of you.”

“I remember,” Changmin nods. Right after that, Jaejoong and Yunho had given himself and Junsu a suite for mating which they’d used. Rather thoroughly, too, and for two whole weeks. A bond doesn’t settle overnight, and Changmin knows this.

“So he can’t really be second right now, not with the pack in so much pain.”

“You want me to be second?” Changmin guesses, something sick crawling up into his stomach. He wants Junsu. Badly.

“No,” Eric shakes his head, “I want you to be Alpha.”

The floor rocks for a moment, Changmin dizzy as the blood sloshes through his brain in shock and he’s steadied only when Eric grabs onto his elbow. “What? No. I can’t. But Yunho!”

He feels Junsu dashing out of the dining venue, shouting something about family emergency over his shoulder and running full tilt to his car. _I’m coming. I’m coming, don’t die of shock, Shim Changmin!_ Changmin’s a little affronted; he isn’t planning on dying.

“Right now, the only thing Yunho cares about—or will, once I wake him—is Jaejoong. Getting Jaejoong back. Fixing the bond. And that’s all he should care about. Vampires and gumihos are one thing—those are easy to fix, easy to kill. But this—who knows what this is. This is more important and fixing it is going to take all their energy and all their strength. He can’t be responsible for a pack until it’s better.”

“We can’t take Yunho being pulled from us, too.” The pain would be unimaginable, Changmin knows. He doesn’t even want to think about it let alone have to deal with a whole pack of wolves experiencing it.

“It won’t be like that,” Eric assures him, “I’m just going to transfer the packs bonds from Yunho to you. It would be as if Yunho and Jaejoong never existed in the pack and you won’t feel the pain of them being gone while they mend themselves. I promise.”

“You want me to…” Changmin let out a breath.

“Talk to Junsu,” Eric ran a hand down Changmin’s arm, “talk to whomever you need. Yunho is the one that ultimately needs to give permission, though. So if he would rather Jinki do it despite his recent mating then that is what’s going to happen.”

But Changmin knows Yunho. Changmin knows Yunho would rather Jinki not do it because Yunho knows all too well what happens when someone so intimately linked to the pack mates and is too wrapped up in their mate to address problems or forgets to block the pack before having sex. He doesn’t want that to happen again and Changmin and Junsu have a lot more control right now than Jinki and Yoona. 

Yunho will want Changmin to be the temporary Alpha.

“And of course you need to be ok with it. If you aren’t, then I’ll transfer your bonds to Siwon’s pack. That’s the other option.”

“I want Junsu.”

Eric gives him a smile that’s almost as comforting as his mate’s. But not quite. “Wait upstairs for him to come to you, then.”

Changmin’s actually frozen on the steps for a few moments before deciding that until Junsu gets home, Yoochun will have to do. Boa’s still at work, but Yoochun takes one look at Changmin’s petrified face and wraps him in a hug, tugging Changmin to a couch and managing to tuck his much larger frame against Yoochun easily. 

Eric hadn’t bothered to hide their conversation and Changmin fully expects Yoochun to have heard every word along with the rest of the wolves in the house. Changmin’s not disappointed. 

“You know you’ll be great.”

“I don’t want that. I didn’t even want to be third, never mind Alpha.”

“We need someone, Changmin. And let’s face it. Jinki’s far too occupied with Yoona to be a decent Alpha and I love Siwon but I have no desire to be a part of his pack. Ever. So I repeat. _You know you’ll be great_. Even if that would technically make me second with Jinki out of the picture.” 

It _would_ make Yoochun his second. Changmin would much rather Yoochun than Jinki. Not that he doesn’t like Yunho’s second but he and Yoochun have bonded the past few years in a way Changmin never has with any of the wolves besides Junsu, Jaejoong, and Yunho. He lets Yoochun feel how happy that makes him and in response Yoochun hugs him tighter.

Eric will probably pull Yunho and Jaejoong into his pack to be under his guidance, and if Changmin were Jinki, and on a honeymoon trying to solidify a bond, Changmin would most likely want to be left as a lone wolf with a mate.

It’s not as if their pack is big like Siwon’s, Changmin thinks. Jonghyun, Kibum, Taemin, Minho, Boa and Yoochun. The new girl. Possibly Seohyun.

“Oh shit. Seohyun,” Changmin groans. He’d forgotten about her for a moment. 

“She should temporarily join Siwon,” Yoochun suggests, “since she’s down there anyway. It’ll be easier.”

It would be, as much as Changmin doesn’t like the idea of her being away from him.

“Protective already,” Yoochun teases, “you’ll be just fine at this.”

Changmin punches his shoulder for good measure, though not hard enough to hurt and Yoochun laughs, big and bright and for a little while, Changmin feels better. “You’re the best.”

“I try.”

The front door opens and Changmin breathes a sigh of relief when he feels Junsu hurtling up the stairs towards him. Changmin doesn’t even get a proper look at his mate before Junsu’s on top of him, squishing him back into the couch with Yoochun next to him. Yoochun, who’s chuckling and wrapping an arm around them both, wiggling out a trapped leg so the blood doesn’t get cut off. Changmin isn’t even jealous. He’s so relieved, his stress cutting in half as he gets lungfuls of Junsu’s scent and their bond is awash with comfort.

“Baby,” Junsu murmurs, and he means it both as an insult and as a term of endearment. It makes Changmin crack a smile. He doesn’t think he’s being a baby about this, but he is having a panic attack.

“How am I supposed to do this?” 

Junsu sits up a little, cupping Changmin’s cheeks and pressing their foreheads together. “You’re going to be so kick ass.”

“How am I supposed to be as good as Yunho?”

“Oh, Changmin,” Junsu croons and he wipes a tear that has someone managed to sneak past Changmin’s guard. “You’re not supposed to be as good as he is. You’re just supposed to be _you_.”

Time seems to creep by (or perhaps not exist at all) as Junsu pushes Changmin onto Yoochun and Boa’s bed to cradle him, sing to him, Changmin only vaguely aware of Yoochun’s hand soothing his back. Honestly, if Yoochun didn’t have Boa, Changmin would’ve suggested a threesome, right then and there.

Junsu picks up on the thought, his song breaking into his particular breathy laughter and he slides over Changmin to place a kiss on Yoochun’s lips—Yoochun’s very surprised lips. 

“My goodness,” Yoochun’s voice rumbles deep against Changmin, “whatever that was I wouldn’t mind more of it.”

“He thinks you’re sexy,” Junsu whispers, so the rest of the house can’t hear.

“Really?” Yoochun asks.

“Fuck you both,” Changmin mutters, trying to turn on his side. But they don’t let him, Junsu laughing and Yoochun pushing back his bangs and ok—Changmin melts a little as Yoochun kisses him. Fucking _Yoochun_ of all people who smells like coffee and office paper and Boa and who tastes a little like Junsu.

“You’re both very sexy,” Junsu says. “Poor Boa. Missing out on all the fun.”

“She is a little sad,” Yoochun grins, “she’s always liked your ass, Junsu.”

“Everyone likes my ass.”

Changmin cops a feel, stress leaking out of him as Junsu squirms and Yoochun laughs again. _You’re perfect_ , Changmin tells Junsu, “I didn’t even know that would make me feel better.”

“It’s because it’s ridiculous—more ridiculous than you being Alpha. No offense, Yoochun.”

“None taken. We have our own mates and there’s a reason for that. But yet, here we are kissing and no one’s getting mauled to death. Well, not yet. Boa is feeling a little left out.” 

“I’ll give her a kiss when she gets home,” Changmin says, and sighs, readjusting himself on a pillow and making room for Junsu on one side and Yoochun on the other. 

“I’ll help you,” Junsu says, locking their fingers together, “even if I have to yell at people instead of sing to them.”

“You should always sing to everyone,” Yoochun interjects, “and leave the yelling to me.”

“Leave the yelling to Yoochun,” Changmin agrees.

“You’ll do it?” Junsu asks.

“Well, it’s not like we have a lot of options. If it’s for Yunho and Jaejoong I can do anything, short of leaving you.”

Any of pack would do anything for them in a heartbeat, no questions asked. They all knew Changmin would say yes—Changmin, in his very heart of hearts probably knew he would say yes—but coming to grips with the responsibility isn’t easy. But he has Junsu. And Yoochun. And if it really is all too much, Jinki. And if that fails they have Siwon. Back up plans are comforting and the thought of all of the those people willing to step in and help _Changmin_ , gives him the courage to finally sit up.

“Ok,” he breathes.

Junsu squeezes his hand.

“Does this mean I get to kiss Junsu again?”

“No,” Changmin says, but it’s drowned out by Junsu’s laughter, so loud and happy Changmin almost retracts his answer.

Eric’s waiting when the three of them come downstairs and there’s a twinkle in his eye that suggests he’d heard the parts of the conversation they whispered.

“I’ll do it,” Changmin agrees. Junsu hugs him tight from behind.

“Good. Let’s wake Yunho up, then.”


	3. Three

The pain is unbearable. Yunho doesn’t understand why or how it got there but the last thing he wants is to be walking back into it, to be pulled away from the comfort of oblivion.

But he doesn’t have a choice.

Something is making him, forcing him back into consciousness and honestly Yunho fights it, scrabbles against the walls of his mind until he’s pulled out enough to realize that it’s Eric ordering him and Yunho has to stop, meek as he acknowledges Eric’s authority and allows himself to be yanked into unbearable agony—back to his pack. They’re sorrowful, hurting—but there. Except for one. 

He’s screaming before he realizes he’d taken a breath, his wolf howling in misery, the paradise, the forest he’d built for them shaking. He can feel the ground cracking, the trees splitting, grass and flowers wilting under the pressure of his despair. His world is crashing down around him. Hours, months, eternities, he loses count and he wants the darkness back, doesn’t want to think about the person that’s missing, that’s gone, that will never come back. _Jaejoong_.

Yunho pounds relentlessly against the part of his soul that was connected to Jaejoong—the part that’s now cut off. _He’s dead_ , Yunho thinks, sickness seeping into his stomach and overtaking him. He heaves, feels a hand press against his forehead, a voice murmur something into his ear. He throws up over the edge of wherever he’s lying, hears another voice and then another, a cacophony of sounds that are all not the ones he wants to hear. _Jaejoong’s laughter, Jaejoong’s voice, Jaejoong’s breathing._

He can’t live. He can’t survive without Jaejoong. It’s not possible.

“Yunho.”

And he can’t live with his subconscious making him think that everyone sounds like Jaejoong and that everyone smells like Jaejoong. He’s going to go insane and his wolf agrees. Better to let his wolf take control of him and have Eric kill him, if he’s really there. It’s a lot faster than drowning himself—definitely faster than starving himself.

“Yunho, don’t. Please don’t.”

Just the sound of Jaejoong’s voice makes him angry. How dare they? How dare they hold onto him and make their voices sound like him and their skin feel like him and their scent…well, identical, actually.

A thought crosses his mind, one that even makes his wolf pause. Is is possible that it actually is Jaejoong? A little well of hope springs up in Yunho’s chest and he feels the bonds he has to the rest of the pack vibrate as they urge him towards a conclusion.

He opens his eyes, carefully, at first, waiting as he focuses on the face hovering over him, feeling a glimmer of hope grow as it starts to take on a familiar shape, the legs pressed against his sides familiar, the hands against his cheeks warm in a way that they have only ever been with one person.

“Jaejoong,” he croaks, and thinks even if it’s fake he might not actually care. “ _Jaejoong_.” 

His vision blurs for a different reason now, tears spilling over as he heaves for breath and his wolf is clamoring for answers because the lips that press against his are Jaejoong’s and fingers that trace his nose and his cheekbones and his throat are Jaejoong’s. It’s Jaejoong’s _face_ in front of him, his lips and his cheeks and his nose and his birthmark. His tears. His eyes, rimmed red, dark circles sinking beneath them. His skin, pale and sick from worry. It’s Jaejoong. Yunho’s Jaejoong, who’s still the most beautiful thing Yunho has ever seen. If it’s fake then it’s the best fake, the best doppelgänger in the entire history of the world. 

“I don’t—what is going on?”

But no. Jaejoong’s alive. There’s no scent of magic, no trickery, nothing to suggest that it’s not Jaejoong, sobbing as he falls down onto Yunho’s chest and buries his nose in Yunho’s neck, getting it slick with tears. 

“Why can’t I feel you?” Yunho asks, throat closing on him again, even as he wraps arms around his mate to breathe him in. “ _Why can’t I feel you_?”

“I don’t know,” Jaejoong sobs, “I don’t know.”

_This is unacceptable_! Yunho’s wolf shrieks, and quite suddenly, Yunho’s angry. His wolf is angry. His mate is upset and Yunho can’t make him feel better, can’t soothe him through their bond, can’t do anything but hold him and Yunho needs to know what is responsible— _whom is responsible_ —so he can rip them apart and set this right. He has to be able to feel Jaejoong again. He _must_. In a second his control his gone and his wolf is grabbing ahold of him, rearing in ugly rage, the pain of transformation beginning to prick at his fingertips.

“Calm down,” Eric’s voice orders, “both of you.”

The anger melts away as soon as Yunho releases a breath, his wolf relinquishing hold of his mind, his emotions clearing from his brain. He looks up from Jaejoong to see his entire pack, most of them crying, in the living room. In the wake of the frustration, his despair returns and he lets out a whine that echoes through the entire pack and sends them reeling. Eric is kneeling next to them, a hand on Yunho’s shoulder.

“Calm,” the Marrok orders. 

The order slides over Yunho, sinks into his bones, and he lets out a final, shuddering breath before he can speak. “What is going on?”

“I wish I could tell you,” Eric answers honestly. “But I promise you we’ll figure it out. Can you stand up? Let’s move you to a place that doesn’t stink of your vomit.”

Yunho glances down and sees his lunch all over Eric’s pants. “Sorry,” he murmurs.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

Junsu helps Jaejoong to sit up first, the submissive’s presence soothing the rest of Yunho’s nerves and for a moment, his head is clear. He clings to Jaejoong’s hand, even as Junsu helps them both to stand and Changmin puts an arm around Yunho’s waist as he stumbles. “Ok?” Changmin asks. _Is it ok that I’m touching you? That my mate is touching your mate?_ Yunho feels a rush of affection for Changmin, for his consideration, and nods. There’s no one but Junsu that Yunho would entrust to care for Jaejoong.

The walk to the bedroom is slow, Yunho feeling like he’s standing on his feet for the first time in years and Changmin catches him from tumbling onto the ground more times than Yunho can count. He’d be embarrassed if he could think of anything but Jaejoong. Once they’re out of sight from the rest of the pack, Changmin lifts him up and Yunho is so grateful, so amazed at the consideration, he can’t complain, head resting on Changmin’s shoulder. 

Jaejoong curls up against Yunho after Changmin lays them on their bed. “You’ve been out for hours,” Changmin tells him, “Jaejoong never blacked out, though. Laid on top of you the whole time.”

“I could hear your heart beat,” Jaejoong whispers, “and it helped convince me that you hadn’t died.”

Yunho pulls him closer, presses his lips to Jaejoong’s head, his eyes stinging with tears. He doesn’t understand this at all and tries to beat back the anger welling up inside him again, barely able to contain his wolf that wants to kill something. Anything. “Junsu, can you sing? I need a distraction. Please.”

Changmin lays down on the floor in submission and it’s just as soothing as Junsu’s voice that croons through a repertoire of songs. Ballads and musicals and some pop monstrosities that manage to coax a chuckle out of Jaejoong. But it’s a good hour before Yunho has control of himself, and by the time Eric walks in, freshly showered with a new pair of pants, Yunho’s about eighty-five percent sure he isn’t going to lose it. Fair odds, considering.

Eric prods Changmin with his foot and Yunho smiles, weaving a hand into Changmin’s hair as the wolf kneels next to the bed, head bowed. “So gentle,” he murmurs, “so obedient. Thank you.” He grasps onto the link he has to Changmin and floods it with gratitude. He doesn’t even have words for how Changmin’s submission is making it easier for Yunho to maintain control of his wolf. _Most exemplary_ , Yunho’s wolf echoes, calm for the first time since Yunho had woken, and a pleased rumble echoes through both of them.

“We need to talk about your pack,” Eric says. He’s being careful, Yunho can tell, clearly suspicious of Yunho. Yunho would be suspicious of himself as well; even if Jaejoong is lying right next to him, it still feels as though he’s died and Yunho’s emotions are all over the place, despite his eighty-five percent sanity.

Eric sits on the bed, laying a hand on Yunho’s hip. The alpha appreciates Eric not touching Jaejoong. Junsu is the only one Yunho could tolerate being close to Jaejoong right now, and he thinks it’s because of how cuddly they are and how many kisses they’ve snuck from underneath Yunho’s nose. If Junsu hadn’t done anything else with Jaejoong then, when Yunho could feel him, the submissive wolf certainly isn’t going to do anything more now when he could fly in right under his Alpha’s radar.

Yunho tucks Jaejoong further underneath his chin. “So are you making Jinki come back from his honeymoon or is Changmin taking over?”

Jaejoong runs a comforting hand down his back and for a second, Yunho’s happy that Jaejoong knows he’s upset about it without having bond to feel it. Although, it doesn’t take a genius to know that letting go of a pack isn’t something happy. 

“Perceptive as always,” Eric acknowledges, “but that decision is yours to make, not mine. The pack will follow whatever you decide.”

Yunho can tell Changmin’s come to peace with being a temporary alpha, and he asks if he can see Changmin’s memories for the last few hours. He knows yesterday Changmin would have said no, would have violently protested being Alpha. But as Yunho sinks into Changmin’s mind and watches Changmin drag Jaejoong down the stairs to where Yunho’s prone body had lain on the couch and as Yunho feels Changmin (and Junsu’s) pain of Jaejoong being ripped from them, as he feels how soothing Yoochun had been and how silly Changmin found Junsu kissing the other wolf, Yunho understands why Changmin would now say yes. Yunho understands why Changmin feels at least marginally confident about being responsible.

_Yunho understands Changmin_.

Yunho tugs on Changmin’s neck, rests his forehead against Changmin’s and kisses Changmin’s brow when he hears Changmin take a shuddering breath that can only mean tears. “I trust you,” Yunho whispers. _I trust you with my pack, with all of these werewolves that I love so very much_. Yunho turns a bit to catch Junsu’s eyes. “Both of you.”

Junsu gives him a watery smile.

“Not that I expected you to be difficult,” Eric says, “but that went a lot easier than I anticipated.”

“What about Jinki?”

“He and Yoona will be lone wolves until you’re back on your feet. I’ve already talked to him they agree it’s for the best. They promise to stay out of Changmin’s way to avoid conflict.”

“Before we do this I want to talk to him.”

Changmin hands over his phone and Yunho dials a number by heart. Jaejoong curls up against him, tangling their legs, breathing raggedly against his neck and for a moment, before Yunho hears the click on the other line, he almost loses it again.

It’s Yoona that picks up, voice a little rough (distracted) and Yunho grins, happy that she and Jinki can be pleasing each other even when the pack is in shambles. “Hey,” he says and hears Yoona nearly screech with happiness. He has no idea what she says but in a moment, Jinki’s on the line. 

“Yunho!” he yells, and the only time Yunho’s heard him that happy was a few days ago at the wedding ceremony. “Is Jaejoong alright? It’s driving us crazy that we can’t feel him.”

“Not crazy enough to keep you away from your mate,” Yunho teases, though he doesn’t smile (can’t, when his own mate is pressed so close to him and yet somehow so far away.) He feels Jinki blush through their pack link, he’s so embarrassed. 

“Uh,” Jinki stutters.

“It’s fine,” Yunho says, “just—Jinki are you honestly okay with Changmin being Alpha? I know you’re happy right now but if this takes…” Yunho trails off and has to swallow a moment before trying again, “if it takes a while to fix. If it’s a long time,” he shudders a little at the thought and Jaejoong presses a kiss against his throat, “will you really be able to stay away?”

“Honestly, if we didn’t mate I’d have a problem with it,” Jinki admits, “I mean, I know what I’ve said before about giving up control if Changmin were to grow stronger than me, but this is different. I could maybe take over as Alpha after we’ve…once the bond settles. But having to switch Alpha’s again would be too much emotional turmoil on the pack and it wouldn’t be fair. We’ll be fine here for awhile and if it comes down to it, we’ll stay away.”

“What about work?” Yunho asks him.

“I’ll figure something out. You just worry about getting your bond back, alright?”

“You’re the best, Jinki.”

“I know,” Jinki says, in his comical voice that he knows will make Yunho laugh. And it does, though he sort of sobs at the end as his control over his emotions. Junsu pets his hair and Yunho suddenly wants the rest of the pack there with him, one final time, before Changmin takes control.

“I’ll get them,” Junsu murmurs, and he’s gone a second later. 

Yunho sits up, Jaejoong sitting beside him, fingers interlocked with Yunho’s and his head on Yunho’s shoulder. Yoochun’s the first one in and he’s tugging Boa behind him, both of them sighing as Yunho and Jaejoong wrap them in a hug, ignore their own pain for a moment in order to say goodbye.

“You’re not allowed to be emo while I’m gone,” Yunho orders, meaning Yoochun and Boa, “no arguing! Just lots of sex, ok?”

Yoochun cracks something that looks vaguely like a smile, “We can do that.”

Jaejoong laughs.

Jonghyun and Kibum come next, Kibum looking worse than Yunho’s ever seen him and he marvels at how well he’s adapted. “It’ll be okay,” Yunho whispers, “we’ll be back in no time and you’ll want to leave again with how lovey-dovey we’ll be.”

Kibum tries to respond but he’s crying too hard to get in a decent breath.

Minho seems to take it all in stride, though Yunho knows perfectly well he’s hurting as much as the rest of them. But he lets Minho save face in front of the pack. He’s going to be third, after all. 

Taemin takes it the worst, his attachment to Jaejoong having been the catalyst to joining the pack and he sobs against Jaejoong’s chest like someone really had died; no one is dry-eyed after that, even Eric trying to cover a suspiciously long sniff.

Yunho hears the first few words Jaejoong whispers to Taemin before deciding that he can’t listen, because if he does, he’s going to get mad again and with nothing or no one to direct his anger towards there’s a high possibility he’ll end up hurting one of his pack and that’s the last thing he wants to do. Eric pats his hip again, a sign of approval, and Yunho takes another deep breath.

“What do you want to do about…about Sulli?” Minho asks. He looks at the floor, and Yunho can feel his curiosity mixed with a little shame. Yunho decides to let Changmin handle the that particular mess.

“I think this is an opportune time for her to join the pack,” Yunho answers, “and that’ll be a lot easier for Changmin to keep a close eye on her so she doesn’t…” Yunho pauses. “Seohyun,” he says, “I need to talk to Seohyun.”

“Do you want her back here?”

“What?” Yunho frowns, looking at Eric. “No. She should…she should stay with Siwon.”

“She should join Siwon’s pack,” Jaejoong offers, quietly, “temporarily.”

“That was the plan,” Eric admits.

Yunho nods to give his consent, even as he dials and as always, she’s smart and agrees to being in Siwon’s pack for as long as it takes. “I’m going to miss my sensible little wolf,” Yunho tells her, and accidentally makes her cry.

“Seriously,” Yoochun mutters, “no one’s actually died. It’s like a funeral in here.”

Boa shushes him, but the tears stop for awhile, even as Jaejoong tells Seohyun to call him every day.

Yunho isn’t sure if there’s some sort of ceremony that usually takes place for new Alphas or switching of packs. But if so, Eric clearly skips the pomp and circumstance. “No flesh?” Yunho asks, as Eric lays his hands on his and Changmin’s heads. 

“This is temporary,” Eric tells him.

Temporary. Because they’re going to fix this. For sure.

It only takes a moment and Yunho basks in Eric’s skill to get inside everyone’s heads all at once and just _move_ things. The pain eases a little as he feels himself and Jaejoong connect into Eric’s main pack, feels his wolves soothe them at losing one another. Without the despair of Yunho’s pack, it’s a lot easier to handle and they relax into it. Eric smiles.

Changmin’s still kneeling, Junsu having slid over to him to hold him tight around his middle and Yunho puts his hand back around his neck. “Changmin-ah.”

“I’m ok,” he whispers, “I’m—it’s fine.”

Yunho knows what it’s like, knows how the bonds to each pack member can weigh on a person, knows that Changmin has to learn how to block a little of each person’s emotions so they don’t overwhelm him. 

Changmin’s legs wobble as he stands; Yunho finds it strange that the urge he has to steady Changmin is one of a friend, not one as Changmin’s Alpha. It’s oddly exhilarating and Yunho thinks maybe he’s needs this. Maybe focusing on himself and Jaejoong will be good.

Yoochun follows behind Changmin, looking concerned (and a little pale at suddenly being thrust into the position of second,) and beckoning for the rest of the pack to follow.

“Take a nap,” Eric suggests, “But Yunho—sleeping only, until we figure this out.”

No sex, is the order. Yunho nods. He’s not really up for it anyway, with it still feeling like Jaejoong is dead.

“I would like a kiss,” his mate murmurs, once they’re alone, and Yunho obliges him, happy to slide their mouths together and feel Jaejoong’s breath feather against his face.

“I don’t know how to survive this,” Yunho whispers. 

Their bed seems enormous suddenly, with just the two of them, as if they’d never slept in it together. Yunho pulls Jaejoong closer, tucking a blanket around them more securely. The light is on, but Yunho doesn’t want to have to move away to shut it off.

“I don’t know how either,” Jaejoong admits, “but we will. I promise you we will.” 

“How’s Wolf?”

“Very upset,” Jaejoong pouts, “he wants you back so you can gang up on me together.”

Yunho chuckles.

“What about Bambi?”

Yunho’s laughter has never died out so quick in his life. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t say his name aloud when in the vicinity of the pack!”

“They’re busy with Changmin,” Jaejoong scoffs, “Besides, if you’re so ashamed of it you should have picked a less embarrassing name.” 

“I’m not ashamed. But he seems to think they will look down on me if they know.”

Yunho remembers just one thing from his childhood—a stuffed deer toy his grandmother had made for him out of cloth and straw—the one thing that had given him comfort when his parents had died. When he’d been initially changed and without a pack, he’d been just as lonely as before, and since he didn’t have the deer toy to give him comfort, he’d named his Wolf after him.

Jaejoong snorts. “Let them try to make fun of you. I think they know better.”

Yunho glances down, realigning their noses and brushing fingers against Jaejoong’s cheek. “I love you,” he whispers, “just in case you don’t know that. I love you so much.”

“Why wouldn’t I know that?”

“Because you can’t feel it. Because you can’t…know what I’m thinking.”

It’s as though he’s missing his lungs and trying to breathe, like his brain space has been cut in half and he suddenly has to remember things he doesn’t have room to store. 

“There are millions of people that can’t read each other’s mind and know that they are loved.” Jaejoong pets Yunho’s cheek. “Look at you. So insecure. Not Alpha material anymore, are you?”

“Shut up.” Yunho would be offended if he had the energy.

“You can tell me you love me any time you want. It can be the only thing you say for years and I would never tire of hearing it, whether I can get in your head or not. Yunho…”

Yunho kisses Jaejoong’s nose, his cheek, then goes back to his mouth and ok, maybe now he wishes they could do more than just make out. But Eric’s right. It will be great if they have sex and that repairs the bond, but it isn’t going to explain why it broke or if it will happen again. They need answers while they’re separated, as painful as that may be.

“I feel like I’m adapting to this a lot better than you.”

Yunho moves back a bit to get a better look at Jaejoong’s face. It doesn’t _look_ like he’s upset about it. Maybe just curious? _Ask him_ , Bambi growls. Clearly, his wolf is irritated.

“Does that bother you?”

“I’m curious,” Jaejoong corrects. 

They pause a moment, eyes roving across one another’s faces before they say at exactly the same time, “This is so weird.” But they don’t laugh. 

“It’ll be interesting,” Jaejoong continues, “like…like learning to love you all over again. Learning how to figure out what you’re thinking, watching your facial expressions. Having to talk out loud to you, pull you aside when we want a private conversation.”

“Tedious,” Yunho sniffs. But he can feel his eyes welling up as he is overwhelmed at his mate trying so very hard to make the best out of the shittiest situation ever. Honest to God, how did he get so damn lucky? He says it out loud a second later, when he remembers Jaejoong _really can’t_ pick up on his thoughts.

“Luck has nothing to do with it.”

“Destiny, then?” Yunho jokes.

“Does it actually matter?”

No, Yunho thinks, not really. It’s strange, but the pain of Jaejoong being ripped from him is muted as they talk. Yunho feels it, in the center of his chest, a burning agony that threatens to overtake him, but with Jaejoong so near, and with their kisses and their smiles, it gets easier to ignore. Being a part of a new pack helps too, Eric’s wolves a constant strength that Yunho can pull from rather than his wolves taking comfort from him.

“I love you, too,” Jaejoong tells him, “just in case you didn’t know.”

Maybe, Yunho thinks, as Jaejoong reaches up to kiss him, _I love you_ is the one thing they’ll always know and never have to actually say, no matter what.

 

— 

 

“Honestly,” Eric tells him later, “I expected you to have sex.”

“We certainly thought about it.”

“Soon,” Eric promises, “but you aren’t allowed to tell Hyesung I said that. He’s convinced that’s not going to solve it.”

Yunho doesn’t think it will either, because even before the actual act of mating, wolves destined for each other have some sort of initial connection. Though, he’s more than willing to try sex. As many times as it takes. 

He misses the usual jab from Jaejoong whenever he makes a dirty joke. He almost starts crying again.

“Soon,” Eric repeats, and pats his head.

“This is ridiculous,” Yunho mutters. 

Jaejoong comes through the door with Hyesung and Junjin and makes a beeline for Yunho’s arms, sighing in relief when they come around him. It’s hard to believe Jaejoong’s alive when they aren’t touching, and as far as Yunho is concerned being apart isn’t going to happen very much—if at all—until they figure this out.

“You were gone for three minutes,” Junjin says, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”

Through his newly acquired pack bonds, Yunho can sense that Junjin had been joking, simply trying to lighten the mood a little, but honestly, Yunho could care less. No one is allowed to joke about Jaejoong being ripped from him and get away scott free. Also, Junjin is not as dominant as Yunho, and before he realizes what he’s doing, Yunho’s lunging at him, intent on landing a blow (or ten,) but he doesn’t get very far. Eric’s in front of him in a second, slamming Yunho backwards. 

“Let me hit him,” Yunho growls.

“No. Get on the ground.”

The order slams into him harder than Eric’s body had and it’s so strong Yunho thinks he’ll never be able to stand back up. He can hear Jaejoong whining in fear but all he can think about is how much he wants to bash Junjin’s face into itself. He can kiss Jaejoong better later.

“Calm down.”

Yunho’s not inclined to do that and neither is Bambi. But he doesn’t have a choice, feels his heart rate decrease and his anger slip away.

“Get up.”

Yunho stands, suddenly feeling rather shameful at his complete lack of control.

“I’m not angry,” Eric says, “because no one can blame you for being over sensitive right now, but you will forgive him because you are going to live together and I don’t want to be breaking up fights every five minutes.”

“I’m sorry,” Junjin says immediately, “I won’t joke about it.”

Yunho nods. Apology accepted. Jaejoong takes a few steps over to him, runs a hand down his arm to soothe him. “Can _I_ hit him?” he asks, and as they all laugh, Yunho feels the last vestiges of his irritation fade away. 

He just wants Jaejoong, after all. Nothing is more important than that. Yunho plans on doing everything that he can in order to get their bond back.


	4. Four

The weight is unbelievable.

Changmin is almost smothered underneath the assault of emotions that connects him and the pact, only his mate keeping him from drowning underneath them. He’s got Changmin pressed up against him, back to stomach, murmuring in his ear, legs tight around him, and everything is warm and comforting and _Junsu_. Changmin doesn’t even know how Yunho had managed the barrage of feelings and it’s with a little guilt that he partially closes down his link to each of them until they are a distant buzz in the back of his mind.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Yoochun voice says.

He’s at the foot of Changmin and Junsu’s bed, sitting with his legs folded underneath him. He rests a hand on Changmin’s ankle. “You’re not _mated_ to the pack, Changmin, you’re Alpha. You don’t have to feel all of us all at once all the time.”

“Overachiever,” Junsu accuses. His fingers are soft where they scratch Changmin’s scalp gently, pulling through the short strands of his hair.

“Why did I think I could do this?”

“Don’t despair,” Junsu tells him, “you just have to adjust. We’re going to stay right here with you until you’re ready to face the music. I promise.”

“The only music I want to face is yours.”

Junsu kisses him, comfort flooding their link and curling all the way down into Changmin’s toes. He only pulls away when Yoochun announces that Boa’s home and is this a good time for that kiss Changmin’s owes her? Because she’d like that very much, please and thank you.

Changmin’s not as upset as he thought he might be and he laughs as Boa plops onto the bed happily and lets Changmin tuck her against his body and cup her cheeks and count down from ten as they make out.

“That’s strangely hot,” Yoochun says, “are you sure we can’t make this a regular thing?”

“Hey,” Boa pouts, “am I not sexy enough for you?”

“You’re plenty sexy,” Yoochun growls and pulls her away from Changmin. The hand that sneaks under her shirt to pet her stomach is not lost on the new Alpha, and he lets them touch, happy that he has them and his mate and a pack that trusts him.

“You can do this,” Junsu says.

“I can,” Changmin agrees. He catches Yoochun’s hand, holding it until he has his and Boa’s attention. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry about us,” Boa says, “we know this isn’t going to be easy and we want to help. We just need to have lots of sex and it’ll balance itself out.”

“I can arrange that,” Changmin grins.

Minho’s waiting outside, surprisingly calm. Changmin takes a moment to give him a bone crushing hug and flood him with gratitude. He’s unbelievably happy that his third is someone that’s a close friend and not just another pack member he occasionally sees.

“Eric wants you,” Minho says, “he’s going to add Sulli into the pack. He said he just wants it to be temporary, though, since moving it back to Yunho will be troublesome later.”

Temporary doesn’t mean it will be any less binding, and Changmin hopes he won’t have any trouble making Sulli see that.

She looks ecstatic to see Minho, even when Eric tells her there will be no mating of any kind until Yunho and Jaejoong are back on their feet and Yunho in his rightful place as Alpha. “That’s alright,” Sulli tells them, and then she says to Minho “I’m here, with you, and that’s enough for now.”

Minho blushes.

Yunho and Jaejoong are waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. They look terrible, but they’re smiling, and they squish Changmin between them. Not being able to feel them through a pack bond is strange, but the hurt of having Jaejoong ripped away is gone and it’s a huge relief. 

“You’ll be fine,” Jaejoong tells him.

“Eventually,” Changmin agrees, and doesn’t realize he’s crying until Jaejoong wipes at his cheeks. “I might call you to complain.”

“Any time,” Yunho pats his head.

“You,” Changmin starts, “I don’t know how you’re managing. You both have so much strength.” If it were him and Junsu, Changmin’s not sure he’d be able to give out so much comfort never mind even survive.

“Thank you.” They give him one last hug before Junsu elbows him out of the way and clings to them both. The sight threatens to start the waterworks again but the rest of the pack is filtering in for last minute hugs and so Changmin holds in it. He will cry behind closed doors when his mate can give him peace.

Eric holds him back from walking them out to the car, so Changmin stands in the doorway with Junsu, watching Yoochun give Jaejoong’s hand a final squeeze while Eric tosses their bags into the back of his van.

“Be safe,” Changmin says, knowing they’ll hear him.

Jaejoong turns around and gives Changmin a smile he doesn’t think he’ll ever forget.

 

—

 

By some act of God, Changmin manages to keep the peace his first few hours as Alpha. Maybe it’s because everyone’s tired of feeling upset and hurt, but whatever the reason he’s incredibly grateful. A peaceful pack makes for a very happy Changmin.

Yoochun takes Boa to buy barbecue and the pack spends the evening sprawled over the front lawn grilling and eating and bonding. Junsu even sings for them, and the flash of pride Changmin has for his mate is almost all-consuming. 

“Your mate is amazing,” Yoochun tells him, as Sulli starts to make requests. Changmin’s so pleased with the praise he pretends not to notice Sulli making attempts to hold Minho’s hand. It’s not hurting anyone, and Minho only seems embarrassed, if anything. It’s cute, actually. 

“I know,” Changmin sighs, basking in the feeling of being utterly pleased, “Junsu’s the absolute best.”

_I’m going to reward you for that, later,_ Junsu says into their bond, and the promise makes Changmin’s mouth go dry, blood rushing through his body in excitement and next to him, Yoochun is laughing.

“You two are so predictable. But adorable,” he adds, probably in case Changmin were to get upset. But Yoochun’s right—Changmin and Junsu are very predictable and a lot less afraid of hiding it. They’ve always been much more outward with their affection than the other wolves and Changmin sees no need to switch that up now that’s he Alpha. If anything, it will be a strict reminder that Yunho’s policy of acceptance is not going to change with pack leadership. 

“If you’ll excuse me,” Yoochun says suddenly, “my mate is demanding my attention. If I want to touch her at all I’d better go before she gets herself off and leaves me be.”

“Way more information then I ever want to know,” Changmin calls after him. But he smiles. He’s happy he doesn’t have to worry about them getting along anymore. It’s a huge relief.

“Don’t be jealous,” Junsu tells him. He wraps a hand around the back of Changmin’s neck and pulls him down, licking into his mouth but pulling away before Changmin could gather enough wits to respond. He’s incredibly turned on.

_Jerk. We can’t disappear into dark corners anymore. Too many responsibilities. Don’t tempt me._

_Something to think about for later, then_.

Changmin just barely holds back a frustrated groan, and seriously contemplates disciplining his mate when he plops down onto Changmin’s lap and wiggles his hips down into Changmin’s crotch, trying to get comfortable. “Kim Junsu,” Changmin growls.

“Oh, oops. I’m sorry.”

_You’re going to pay for this._

_That’s the idea, Changmin-ah. How many years have we been together? When are you going to get it through your head that_ I want that to happen _. I mean seriously. Do you even know me?_

Changmin elects to ignore that, instead, slipping a hand underneath Junsu’s shirt to pinch his skin. But his mate just laughs. “You’re unbelievable,” Changmin sighs, but kisses Junsu’s shoulder anyway. He wants it, does he? Well, then, Changmin will find a way to give it to him. His feeling of satisfaction at the thought is immense.

But of course the peace doesn’t last long. 

The mess in the front yard is cleaned up, the less dominant wolves in the pack playing rock paper scissors to determine who would be responsible for dishes. Normally, they’d all be playing, but there’s an understanding in the pack to leave Changmin and Junsu out of having to do chores for awhile and also to exempt Yoochun and Boa, as they manage their new footholds and try very hard not to think about all the things that could go wrong with their newly acquired responsibilities.

Junsu’s currently upstairs, Changmin can hear him in Yunho and Jaejoong’s bedroom, and it’s talking all of the new Alpha’s self control to not join him. He has duties, now, that he has to see to first.

And he can sort of feel what Yoochun and Boa are up to in their room and that’s _really_ not helping at all. He remembers belatedly that he can close or open his links to the pack and makes sure to firmly shut them out until they’re…finished. He makes a mental note to ask Yunho about that later. How many things had their Alpha seen in the years they’d been a pack? Changmin’s not sure he wants to know. Maybe it would be best to never bring it up _ever_.

After making sure no one’s going to be throwing dirty dishes at each other, and that Sulli isn’t going to jump Minho while no one’s looking, Changmin decides he can spare some time for his mate.

But he only gets to the foot of the stairs before he hears Sulli shriek, dishes breaking as she presumably drops them, and then a second later Changmin catches a whiff of a werewolf he doesn’t recognize.

_Changmin_? Junsu asks. 

_Stay upstairs._

Minho beats him to the door, eyeing the porch disdainfully while keeping a protective stance in front of Sulli, who’s gone whiter than a sheet. She stinks of fear and Changmin has to swallow down a sudden urge to tear into whatever has come knocking.

“What is going on here?” Changmin asks, trying to sound casual. Sulli is behind him in a second, hands gripping the bottom seam of his shirt and it’s easy to imagine her face as it pokes cautiously around his shoulder. Not something he expected, but he is her Alpha now. Minho stays his ground, only moving off to the side as Changmin pats his shoulder, Sulli stumbling behind him as he steps forward.

Behind the wolf on the doorstep, there are several other female wolves, all in ranging states of uncleanliness and Changmin has a sudden headache. He did not sign up to deal with rogue wolves.

Changmin has never in his life heard of a woman Alpha. Ever. He doesn’t think there’s ever been one in the history of werewolves—which is quite a long span of time. Not that they intentionally try to be sexist, but female wolves are so much rarer than male ones. They’re coveted and protected and hence kept out of the line of fire—kept out of positions that could get them killed. Though honestly, it’s because they just aren’t dominant enough. Changmin doesn’t know why (nor does he care, to be perfectly honest,) but it’s a fact of life. It’s just how it is.

But this wolf. She’s very dominant. Not as dominant as Changmin or Yoochun, but she could probably take Minho in a fight, and considering his very unpleasant facial expression, he knows it. So does she.

“You must be the Alpha,” the woman says, scrunching her nose a bit, “it’s a pleasure. We’ve been tracking Sulli for days.”

“Well, you’ve found her,” Changmin says coolly, and through his bond to her, soothes his new wolf. He isn’t going to send her away. He feels Sulli relax a little, though her wariness is still extraordinarily present. “Minho, would you please take Sulli up to Junsu? I’ll handle this.”

“I beg your pardon,” the woman says, taking three full steps into the house and reaching out for Sulli, “but I’m just here to take her back with me. That’s all.”

“Sulli is my wolf,” Changmin stops her hand before it can latch onto Sulli’s wrist, “my pack. You are not taking her anywhere; though I’d be happy to sit down with you and discuss this situation. It seems a little more complicated than I first imagined.”

“You don’t get to tell us what to do,” the woman says, nostrils flaring. Her eyes are starting to lighten.

“I won’t come with you,” Sulli says, though it’s more of a squeak. The scent of fear is thick on her, and growing with each passing second. Changmin hears a little growl escape Minho’s throat; this will not end well. “My mate is here. I won’t leave him.”

“You will mate,” the woman points a finger at Sulli, “whomever I say. I decide who your partner, Sulli, not some Alpha you’ve only just met. Your _real_ mate is waiting for you back home and you will come back with me to be with him.” She gives Changmin a look. “Don’t you have any women in your pack?”

_Well, shit_ , Changmin thinks. He tugs insistently on his bond to Boa, desperately wanting some backup and is pleased when she appears not a second later. She’s relatively decent too, though her shirt is on inside out.

“Oh, excellent,” the woman says, “a sound mind. You should come with us; it’ll be much better than being surrounded by these idiots.”

Changmin is not able to contain his growl of displeasure. 

“Minho is my real mate,” Sulli says, and she sounds on the verge of tears, “Jaehee said. My wolf said!”

“You can’t trust your wolf. We’re leaving, Sulli, don’t make me tell you again.”

The woman’s lost it. Completely bat shit insane, and Changmin means that in all seriousness; her eyes are almost completely white. 

Changmin’s wolf is extremely pissed off.

“Minho,” Chagmin directs, and makes it an order, since he’s a little new at reading everyone’s moods, “take Sulli upstairs to my mate and do not come down until I tell you. And you,” he directs at the woman, before she object, “get out of my house. If you wish to discuss this in a civil manner, than you can set up a time to meet. But you are not welcome here again.”

He impresses as much force as he can manage until she cows, stumbling out of the doorstep and into one of her female wolves (if they even were hers.)

“How dare you,” she hisses.

“This is my pack,” Changmin tells her again, “Sulli is now one of them and if she had been a part of anyone else’s pack I wouldn’t have been able to bring her into mine without at least noticing you. So take your wolves and your lies and get off of my property before I make you.”

The wonderful thing about wolves is that, angry or not, she has to listen to him because she’s not as dominant as he is. The only exception would be if she is suicidal, in which she could attack and then get herself killed. Changmin wouldn’t mind that, to be perfectly honest, as he is exceedingly upset with her, but she apparently still has a desire for life, because she pulls her wolves after her and stomps back down the driveway, presumably the way she’d come. 

Changmin would be happy to never see her again but as he watches, one of the wolves looks back at him. She’s pretty, delicate even, despite the dark circles under eyes and a slight body that suggests malnourishment instead of dieting. She holds his gaze a moment, and in it, Changmin sees, for a brief second, a flash of desperation tinged with a little bit of hope: Sulli’s not the only wolf that doesn’t want to go anywhere with that woman. Changmin can’t say he blames them and he sighs, even as he feels Yoochun’s hand on his shoulder. Changmin’s not sure when he’d come downstairs.

They’re going to have to fix this.

“You okay?” Yoochun asks him.

“Not really. I’m going to have to call Eric, aren’t I?” 

“Yeah, sorry.”

“It hasn’t even been twelve hours.”

“I think he’ll understand,” Changmin gets another pat on the back, “what do you need me to do?”

“Do you want to talk to Sulli or do you want to make sure that snake of a wolf stays away?” It’s not like Changmin actually expects her to come right back, but he can’t be too careful.

“I’ll stand guard with Boa,” Yoochun agrees, and then adds,“promise we won’t make out and let her slip by.”

“Thanks,” Changmin drawls, lip twitching, “you’re so helpful.” He means it though, and he’s grateful that Yoochun knows the “get a smile out of Changmin” formula. He needs it. 

Sulli’s in Yunho and Jaejoong’s bedroom being cradled by Junsu, her hair stroked back by a tentative Minho and it’s not until Changmin climbs onto the bed that she abandons them both to sob onto his shoulder. _She didn’t tell us anything_ , Junsu says into their bond.

“I don’t want to go back,” it’s almost unintelligible, her body heaving in desperation, “please don’t make me. Please don’t send me away, I promise I’ll behave! I do whatever you want, whatever you tell me!”

She’s having a panic attack, shaking uncontrollably even as Changmin holds onto her doggedly, and god help him, Changmin feels so terrible, feels so upset with himself for ever mistrusting her. 

“No one’s sending you anywhere,” Changmin tells her, “you’re pack. My wolf. She can’t take you away from that.”

Well, Changmin isn’t sure about that, especially considering something had just managed to tear Jaejoong from the pack. But the reassurance seems to calm her down. “I’m not going to get rid of you,” Changmin tells her again.

They sit there waiting for her tremors to pass, silent even when Yoochun comes up to say that Eric’s phoned twice because he could sense that something had gone wrong. Changmin decides to wait and call once he has the whole story—that is, Sulli’s side of the story. He doesn’t have to say it to know that Yoochun will pass everything along.

“Choi Jinri,” Changmin starts.

Sulli shudders. “She doesn’t know my real name. You can’t tell her. It’s how I got away.”

“I won’t. No one will tell her anything, I promise.”

_Is she using their real names to keep a hold on them?_ Junsu wonders. Changmin mentally shrugs. It’s certainly easy to control a person if they happen to know your name, but he doesn’t think it’s as binding as Sulli is making it sound. Unless there’s magic involved, and the thought makes Changmin want to shudder. He _detests_ any magic that doesn’t have to do with werewolves or the pack.

It takes fifteen minutes of Changmin’s constant reassurances and another fifteen minutes of Junsu singing to calm her down. The scent of fear doesn’t fully leave her until Changmin finally relents to allowing Minho to hold her and Kibum to come upstairs with a homemade latte; she smiles when she sees his horrible attempt at making a heart in the foam. “You’re stuck with this for the rest of your life,” Junsu tells her, and that’s what she finally laughs.

“I can fix this,” Changmin promises her, “but you have to tell me everything.”

It’s as much as he’d expected, and then some.

The detestable she-wolf has a group of female wolves under her command. Though, so far as Changmin can tell, it’s not a pack like it’s supposed to be. Sulli calls the wolf Matron and says that she leads the girls, but not like how Changmin is Alpha. She knows their real names and uses that and her incredible amount of dominance (for a woman, anyway,) to gather lady wolves to her and lord over them. She chooses their occupations and their mates and governs every aspects of their lives that she can.

“But you got away,” Changmin prompts.

“One of the other girls she—she got in trouble for sneaking out to see a man. Matron was beating her something awful over it and I—I saw my chance. I ran, kept running, didn’t look back.”

“Was the girl here today?”

“I didn’t see her,” Sulli says, hand tightening in Minho’s, “I hope—I hope Matron didn’t kill her.”

“She mentioned a mate,” Minho starts, “…someone other than me?”

“He’s not my mate!” Sulli pulls away, gripping Minho’s fingers and looking up at him desperately, “Minho, you have to believe me, that man doesn’t mean anything to me!”

“I believe you,” Minho is quick to assure her, “but why…why does she think I’m not your mate? Who is this other man?”

The relief is easy to spot. Changmin pats Sulli’s arm as she relaxes back against his chest, curling into him easily, “I don’t know where Matron found him but they—they pay for us. He paid for me.”

It’s only Junsu that keeps Changmin from changing, right then and there, and hunting down the woman to tear her limb from limb. “Paying,” Changmin hisses, and grips blindly for a bedpost instead of Junsu’s arms. He doesn’t want to break anything of Junsu’s, coincidental or no. _I appreciate that_ , Junsu tells him sagely, and Changmin’s cheek is kissed. _We’ll fix this, it’s okay_. It’s enough to bring down Changmin’s blood pressure, anyway.

“These other girls they’ve been—people have paid for them?”

“Some,” Sulli nods, “yes. But we always stay with the Matron and they want us they have to come to the house.”

“If they—“ Minho chokes, and Changmin sees his eyes start to lighten a bit. “Has he—did that man do anything—“

“No,” Sulli says, “but that’s why I left. I didn’t want him to…I didn’t want that. And I knew he would. The others—it’s happened. I had to leave. I couldn’t let him…”

Changmin lays a hand on Minho’s foot. He can’t send Minho away, knows that as Sulli’s mate he needs to hear this, but Minho has to be in control of himself. 

“How long were you with her?” Changmin asks.

“A year,” Sulli shrugs, “right after I became a werewolf. She found me in the woods. The others—the others have been there for a long time. Tens of years. A century. One of them…she used to have a mate—a real mate. She would tell me what it was like, sometimes, when I would lay with her in the dark and listen to her tell me about how loving he’d been, how kind. So unlike Matron. She’d had a real pack, too, like this.” 

Sulli lifts her head to smile at him and Changmin feels a pang somewhere in his heart that’s so strong he wants to throw up from the force of it. He knows Junsu’s trying very hard not to cry.

“I was lucky she never found out my real name.”

“She won’t,” Changmin promises, “though even if she were, it wouldn’t matter because you’re my pack. You don’t have to worry about that ever again.”

“Do you know where the house is?”

Sulli nods.

_Shim Changmin_ , Junsu growls. He’s never sounded more disapproving.

_I’m not going to do anything stupid. But I can’t just sit here either and if I have an address then maybe I can call Eric and we can do something about it._ Possibly. Eric may not want him to do anything and take care of it himself, though Changmin hopes that’s not the case. He really wants to sink his teeth into something.

Once Junsu leaves, Changmin makes Sulli write down an address and anything of the house she can remember. “Just rest for now,” he tells her, “come down when you’re ready.” He decides not to think too hard about leaving Sulli and Minho wrapped up together and on a bed. Minho will be able to control himself, if only because of his anger, and he doesn’t think Sulli would intentionally do something to piss him off. Not now that he knows her story. Besides that, Sulli’s far too emotional to be left alone, and Minho won’t stand for anyone else staying with her.

Yoochun’s making coffee when Changmin trudges into the kitchen, Junsu attached to his back, arms tight around his waist. Yoochun gives them a fond smile. “I brought them up to speed,” he says, “so you don’t have to call right away.”

“Thank you,” Changmin says, feeling incredibly relieved. He needs some time to process before he starts to think about a solution.

“Does this mean I get to kiss Junsu?”

“No.”

“Bummer. Next time, then.”

“Hey, I gave your wife her promised kiss. No more of this.”

But Changmin’s grateful for the banter. He knows Yoochun’s only asking to get his mind off the problem for a bit and lighten the mood.

Yoochun hands him a mug. “Made it nice and strong,” he says.

“Thanks.”

“And I even brewed a cup of your weird sneezy herbal tea.”

“It’s not weird; it’s good for my voice,” Junsu huffs, but he takes the mug with a smile. Changmin pretends not to see when Junsu leans over to kiss Yoochun’s cheek, though he knows Junsu can feel his amusement. _Now you can lord that over him_ , Junsu says, _he owes you._

_You’re the best mate, Kim Junsu._

_I am,_ Junsu agrees and links arms with Changmin, happy to cuddle on the couch.

“I got so angry. I didn’t realize it was possible to be so angry.”

“Yunho did say being Alpha amplified everything.”

“I wasn’t really prepared for it.”

“Good thing you have me.”

“Good thing,” Changmin nods. 

“We’re turning into Yunho and Jaejoong. I think I’ve overheard them have this conversation a million times.”

“Urgh, I hope not.” Changmin loves his Alpha, he really does, but—no. He has no desire to have their relationship, not ever, and he’s sure Junsu feels the same way.

“We’ll get through this. Like always. Can’t be any worse than a vampire.”

“True,” Changmin nods. They’d gotten through that, at least. 

They’re silent for awhile, sipping at their drinks, before Changmin senses that something’s bothering Junsu. Not terribly, but there’s an irritation prickling at the edges of his mind. “What is it?” Changmin asks, turning a bit so he can see Junsu’s face. His mate is pouting.

“Is my tea really ‘sneezy’ like Yoochun said?”

And God help him, Changmin has to laugh. “I love the smell of your tea,” he promises, “and if you want, I can yell at Yoochun for making fun of it.”

But Junsu shakes his head, “As long as you don’t mind it.”

“I don’t.” Junsu drinks so much of it, the smell has almost become synonymous with Junsu himself, and Changmin loves everything about Junsu. It’s actually kind of nice. Changmin turns his head, pressing lips to Junsu’s temple. “I owe you for earlier,” he says.

“Do you?” Junsu hums, “I don’t remember anything about that.”

“You kissing me, you turning me on and then leaving me high and dry? Do you need a reminder?”

“I might,” Junsu nods, setting down his mug.

Changmin can’t get them up the stairs fast enough. He can call Eric later. Right now, he has a mate that needs his care and love. Eventually, anyway, once Changmin pays him back for all the teasing. 

He hopes they have enough time for that before something else goes wrong.


	5. Five

With the pain of the pack gone, it becomes unbelievably difficult to control himself around Jaejoong. Yunho _itches_ to touch him, to get him behind closed doors and kiss him until they can’t breathe and slide into him to make themselves feel good—to hope that it might put their bond back into place. Because Yunho can feel himself edging towards crazy, can feel himself start to panic at the thought of not being able to feel Jaejoong ever again, even though he’s got an arm wrapped snugly around him.

But Eric’s order has a firm hold on them both and Yunho hasn’t any chance of breaking it. 

“Soon,” Eric says, coming into the room he’d given them, smiling. He’s texting someone.

Yunho sighs. “You keep saying that.”

“Soon what?” Jaejoong asks.

Yunho leans down, watching Eric grinning out of the corner of his eye and tells Jaejoong exactly what he plans to do after Eric lifts his sex ban. “Oh,” Jaejoong says, and his fingers tighten in Yunho’s shirt. It’s strange to smell arousal on his mate and not be able to feel it in a bond. “Soon would be great.”

“I promise.”

Eric sits down opposite them on the bed, smiling patiently as Yunho draws up his feet and Jaejoong rearranges himself against Yunho’s side.

“If I can get inside your heads,” Eric starts, “I might be able to figure out more about what severed your bond.”

“You might be able to fix it?”

“Maybe,” Eric nods, “but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“Because even if you can—it won’t be like before. Right?”

“No, you would still have the same strength bond as before,” Eric tells them, “that doesn’t go away. You aren’t less in love with each other because you have no bond?”

“Of course not,” Yunho scoffs. Jaejoong makes an agreeable noise next to him. 

Eric nods. “Love is what makes a bond strong. Experience. Understanding. Recreated, your bond is going to reflect everything you’ve been through no matter how long you remain without it. I can guarantee that. If anything, this separation will only make your bond stronger. I say don’t get your hopes up because I’m not a cure-all. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do anything.”

“We should try everything,” Jaejoong says and Eric nods.

He lays his other hand on Jaejoong’s feet. “Let’s go to Yunho’s sanctuary, shall we?”

 

— 

 

Yunho’s forest is a wreck, and he’s a little ashamed of it, though too tired to fix the uprooted trees and straighten out the streams that have become puddles of mud. Even his flowers are wilted, the sunlight usually streaming through branches clouded over. There’s a foul stench in the air that is making him wrinkle his nose in distaste. In the two hundred years he’s been alive, Yunho has never felt so utterly _destroyed_.

“Oh, Yunho,” Jaejoong murmurs, and rights a tulip, tucking the dirt back around it carefully. The flower leans into the touch of Jaejoong’s fingers, like it knows who Jaejoong is.

“I’ll get it straightened out, eventually,” Yunho says, though he heaves a heavy sigh. 

“Why isn’t mine like this? It feels fine.”

“Probably because you didn’t go as long thinking Yunho was dead,” Eric says from behind them, “and you weren’t feeling the pack’s turmoil like Yunho was either. Come on. This way.”

Jaejoong’s well acquainted with Yunho’s forest, and Yunho knows his mate loves it dearly. The way he reacts with a sad sigh or sniff at every overturned stone breaks Yunho’s heart a little more. _I will kill whomever did this_ , Bambi thinks, and Yunho mentally pats his wolf’s head.

“Wolf is so sad,” Jaejoong whispers.

“It’ll be alright,” Yunho says, knowing Wolf can still hear him.

After another few minutes of walking, Yunho finally realizes where Eric is leading them, and he grips Jaejoong’s hand tight, not sure if he actually wants to see it or not.

As Alpha, his sanctuary carries pieces of his wolves’ sanctuaries, serving as reminders of his bonds to each of them. He has a palm tree of Junsu’s and a smaller version of one of Changmin’s lakes. He has a cherry blossom tree that represents Yoochun and a small flower garden underneath it that’s Boa’s. He’s even got a strange, modern art structure that belongs to Key, displayed proudly next to bench along Changmin’s lake. There’s something in Yunho’s sanctuary from every one in his pack, but the piece of it that’s Jaejoong’s is larger than anyone else’s. Jaejoong knows of course—his beach had replicated itself in Yunho’s mind and something that big doesn’t go unnoticed, and it’s with a heavy heart that Yunho approaches it.

He doesn’t sense anything off at first, but the closer they get to it, the stronger the unpleasant smell becomes until Yunho’s choking, covering his nose and mouth. He panics when the beach finally comes into view. It’s black, the water of the ocean thick like oil mixed with sludge, oozing up onto a shore of charcoal and mud. He barely registers Jaejoong’s cry of distress, and just holds him, staring in stupor, eyes watering at the filth. It’s like an ocean made of soupy corpse leftovers washing up onto a beach of blackened and burnt bones.

“Magic,” Eric tells them. “Bad, evil, magic.”

Jaejoong has his face buried in Yunho’s neck and Yunho can tell his mate is breathing him in, trying to block it all out. He wishes he could flood Jaejoong with comfort, block him from feeling any of this, but he can’t. Yunho has to just stand there and be angry at whatever had fucked up their bond.

“You have to get rid of it.”

Yunho glances at Eric over Jaejoong’s head, swallows as he cups the back of Jaejoong’s neck and grips his waist to center himself.

“It’ll take some time, but you have to cut this out. This is only going to grow and spread into the rest of your forest.”

Jaejoong moans into Yunho’s shoulder.

“I can’t track it to any type of source, so just…delete it. Erase the hard drive, so to speak. Build your entire sanctuary back from scratch if you must.”

It’ll take a bit of effort. But Yunho’s strong, even without a bond or a pack, and it won’t take long to dispel this from inside of him. He wants to start.

“Later tonight,” Eric says, “when Jaejoong and I aren’t here. Let’s go.”

“Wait a second.”

Yunho rolls the earth underneath them, and a wall of it springs from the ground, covering itself in grass and shrubs until it’s several stories high, blocking the black magic from view. Honeysuckle—the first strongly scented flower to pop into his mind—springs up and grows a fence of itself on top of the earth wall, letting it travel down the side until there’s a enough to block a little of the stench coming from the other side. That should hold it in place for a little while, anyway.

Jaejoong kisses Yunho’s mouth and the sanctuary fades away.

The Marrok’s no where in the room when Yunho wakes, face mashed in between unfamiliar pillows and Jaejoong’s head. His mate is crying, huge wracking sobs shaking his body as he clings to Yunho and Yunho realizes he had been wrong. His heart hadn’t been entirely broken, as the sight of his mate being taken apart and pulled from all sides shatters anything that had remained. He feels soulless. Empty.

“I’m sorry,” Yunho breathes, even though he knows it’s not his fault, even though _Jaejoong_ know it’s not. “I’m so sorry, Jaejoong. You think we’d been through enough already, paid our dues.”

Yunho holds back his own frustration for awhile, waiting until Jaejoong can breathe easier before letting his own tears slip out. Comfort flows easy between them, fingers and hands sliding down their bodies in a way that reassures the other they are here _together_ and that neither of them is backing down. They plan on fixing this.

“I’m worried,” Jaejoong confesses, when their foreheads are pressed together and their arms wrapped around each other, “I don’t—I don’t like how I was without you. Before I had you. I don’t want my fear of this situation to make me revert back into myself and block everyone out.”

“You can’t block people subconsciously…we know that all too well. It has to be a conscious thought,” Yunho pokes his mate’s side, “but even if you could—you were hiding that you loved me and sorry, but bond or not, I still know it. You’re _mine_. We’re each others, Kim Jaejoong, no matter what.”

“I feel like you’re reciting marriage vows at me.”

Yunho snorts. Mating is usually enough where werewolves are concerned, but old tradition dies hard—Jinki and Yoona had both wanted a wedding and they had gotten it. Yunho and Jaejoong had talked about it a few years back, but it had never been something important to them. They liked what they had and neither of them needed anything more to make their love for each other real.

“Want me to write you a poem?”

“No, thank you,” Jaejoong wrinkles his nose, “leave the writing to me, please.”

Yunho leans in for a kiss. The ache is less in his heart, and he wonders if maybe it’ll be gone once he cuts out the rotten part of his sanctuary. He hopes so. “Fair warning,” he growls, biting down on Jaejoong’s lip and wishing he could be doing something else, “once Eric gives the okay I am not holding back.“

“I know. That’s one thing I don’t need a bond to feel,” Jaejoong says, with a not so subtle nudge of his hip. 

It’s almost enough to send Yunho tipping over the edge, only Eric’s order keeping him from tearing off Jaejoong’s clothes. “Think a blow job is listed under the sex ban?” He’s starting to get a little desperate.

“When you had to ban Yoochun and Boa from having sex did you or did you not get incredibly pissed at them for doing exactly what you just proposed?”

“Different circumstances. Boa blew him in the middle of the living room!”

“Yunho,” Jaejoong frowns, in that tone of voice which means no matter how much he begs, Yunho will not get his way.

“I can’t believe you remember that.”

“You were livid. Even Jinki couldn’t be in your presence without rolling over onto his back. Yoochun and Boa knelt on the floor for a whole day before you let them up. No one will ever forget that in a million years.”

He had been extremely mad, though most of it was his wolf upset at Yoochun for trying to undermine Yunho’s order. That was unacceptable and even now, Bambi is getting irritated just remembering it. No doubt Eric would feel the same way and Yunho really doesn’t want the Marrok that mad at him their first day here, not when they have so much left to do.

“Hey,” Jaejoong whispers, aligning their faces so Yunho can’t look at anything except his mate, “sex is amazing,” he says, “but it’s not why I’m in love with you. Even if we could never have sex again—even if I could never kiss you again—I wouldn’t leave you. You’re the love of my life.”

He can’t even help the tears that spill out, pulling Jaejoong closer before he can get a hand up to wipe them away. “We are so sappy.” But he wouldn’t want it any other way, and he pulls back a second later to land a kiss on Jaejoong cheek. “You’re literally the best person—the best werewolf—that will ever exist. But I don’t want to have to think about not ever being able to kiss you.” Yunho would die. He would keel over and shrivel up from the lack of Jaejoong’s kisses. “Your kisses are like air.”

“That’s the _corniest_ ,” Jaejoong starts, but Yunho cuts him off, deciding that proving it is a lot simpler by just kissing him. Kissing him with no intention of ever stopping. 

Jaejoong tries to say something, maybe _Yunho_ , maybe _yes, please_ , maybe it’s _oh my god, not right now_ , but Yunho could honestly care less. He hoists Jaejoong up onto his lap, and then presses him back into pillows (which are not as comfortable as the ones they have at home,) and resolves to kiss the air out of Jaejoong’s lungs. And he doesn’t stop. There’s something exhilarating about kissing Jaejoong and not knowing what he’s thinking, about listening to the sounds Jaejoong makes in his throat and feels his hands flutter around Yunho’s torso before threading into his hair.

Yunho knows how Jaejoong likes to be kissed, knows precisely how to do it, but not hearing Jaejoong whisper his name into Yunho’s mind, with the sound of their lips in the room and Jaejoong’s breathing becoming increasingly short (as he becomes more and more turned on,) adds a dimension that’s incredibly intoxicating. 

He only pulls away when he suddenly becomes aware of Jaejoong’s erection pressing into his stomach, Jaejoong’s legs halfway wrapped around him; Yunho’d unconsciously started grinding back.

“I don’t know that we’ll last much longer.”

Jaejoong snorts at this, winding his arms tighter around Yunho’s neck and pulling him down. But the kiss is chaste.

“I want to touch you,” Yunho says.

“I know,” Jaejoong tells him, and takes his hand, “it’s really obvious that we were kissing.” His fingers ghost over Yunho’s lips and Yunho thinks for a second he might actually die.

“Good. Maybe then Eric will say yes.”

“Not likely,” Hyesung’s voice says from the doorway.

Yunho only just manages to keep his wolf’s growl from escaping his throat. They are not done kissing. “Yes?” he asks, and he thinks rather politely, too.

“I’ve come to offer a distraction.” He eyes Jaejoong with a smile. “The pack’s heard about your cooking.”

“You’ve come to ask my mate to _cook_?”

“Yunho,” Jaejoong warns, before Hyesung can say anything, “it’s fine. I’d love to cook.”

“But—“ 

“It’s _fine_.” 

_But I want to kiss you more_ , Yunho thinks, defeated, and wishes Jaejoong could hear him.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Don’t take too long,” Hyesung warns.

Jaejoong gives Hyesung a winning smile. If Yunho didn’t know Jaejoong, he would have been convinced that nothing in the world was wrong. “Vixen,” Yunho accuses and Jaejoong laughs, even as Yunho presses their mouths together again.

“You are addicted to me.”

“Can’t help it. I need something of you touching me.”

“You’ve got all of me, whether you’re in my mind or not, how many times do I have to tell you that?”

“Lots,” Yunho says, but he flops onto his back, allowing Jaejoong to get off the bed. 

“Love you,” Jaejoong tells him. 

“You just want me to help you cut vegetables.”

“No,” Jaejoong shakes his head, “this is an opportune time for you to fix your forest.”

It is, actually. Yunho nods, smiling a little as Jaejoong tucks him underneath the covers and smooths the hair from his face. “Promise you’ll come up and kiss me every ten minutes, even though I’ll be out of it.”

“Fifteen,” Jaejoong bargains, “I’m going to be cooking, Jung Yunho.”

“Fine, yes. Fifteen.” It’ll be a comfort when he’s sloshing around inside his own head and getting rid of all the magic.

Yunho slips into his subconscious when Jaejoong kisses him again and when he lands in his forest, nearly slips in a puddle of black goo. It had started to eat through his dirt barrier. “Right,” he says aloud, and gets to work.

 

— 

 

The stench still clings in his memories when he wakes, and for a moment, he thinks he’s brought the magic corpse remains with him and he panics. But there’s nothing except warm sheets and a faint, lingering scent of his mate on them. It’s comforting, though not as much as the real thing would be, and Yunho shoves the blankets aside to search him out.

It’s easy to follow the smell of food, and Yunho pushes past Eric’s drooling wolves to wrap his arms around Jaejoong and hold him tight.

“You’re awake,” Jaejoong breathes, and sounds immensely pleased. He stops stirring a pot and turns around, burying his face in the crook of Yunho’s neck.

Yunho can do anything but hold him tight.

“Is is gone?”

“Not a speck of black left.”

“Good.”

Not even God could have stopped Yunho from kissing Jaejoong, right in the kitchen, right where all of Eric’s wolves are watching, and even with the threat of a pot boiling over. Normally, Jaejoong would have whacked him with a ladle. But not now. Not this time.

And it’s so nice. Yunho wishes Jaejoong could feel exactly how nice he finds it.

_Tell him!_ Bambi screeches. 

“I feel better,” Jaejoong says though, before Yunho can open his mouth, “the hurt of the bond has really lessened.”

Well, the lack of bond, Yunho thinks. But then he realizes that Jaejoong’s right. The pain is nearly halved and he no longer feels in danger of losing control of himself. “It has,” he says. Maybe this will be easy to fix after all. “So when’s dinner?”

Yunho ends up cutting vegetables after all and he gets a kiss for his trouble, even if the chunks of potatoes and carrots are all different sizes. It’s not too much of a big deal, as it’ll be gone within minutes and it’s not likely anyone will notice.

Eric’s pack is huge, a ton of wolves crowding around the food once Jaejoong sets it out, and Yunho holds onto his mate from behind, brimming with love as the food is praised. He very nearly started crying when Eric flooded them both with praise; Yunho had lived so long being an Alpha he had forgotten the feeling of care and love coming from someone other than his mate. 

Jaejoong very kindly lets Yunho hide his face in a bowl of soup and pretend his tears are from the spiciness. For the millionth time, Yunho misses their bond, and wishes he could speak his gratitude right into Jaejoong’s mind. But somehow, Jaejoong seems to know, because he plants a kiss on Yunho’s cheek when no one’s looking.

And ok, Yunho muses, they’re destined to be with each other. He thinks that perhaps even if they hadn’t been werewolves, if there had been nothing to make them “mates,” in the strictness sense of the word, then they would have found each other anyway. No, for sure, Yunho knows, they would have fallen in love, no matter what. 

The thought fuels him the rest of the night, and it isn’t until late, when he and Jaejoong are in bed that Yunho pulls Jaejoong closer and whispers this into his ear.

“I know that,” Jaejoong says, “are you just realizing this now? Seriously, Yunho.”

Yunho blinks as Jaejoong pulls away from him, huffing. “What? No. I mean. I know we’re destined. It’s just—without the bond it’s clearer to me, for some reason. I find it fascinating. Just as fascinating as you.”

He waits, watching Jaejoong’s nose twitch a moment before his mate relaxes and punches Yunho’s shoulder (he takes it like a man.) “That was a good save, Jung Yunho.”

“It wasn’t a _save_ ,” Yunho huffs, because he had meant every word, but he drops it. He knows Jaejoong well enough to understand that it’s time to drop it, and instead pulls him back into his arms to bury his nose into his mate’s hair.

“What now?”

“You smell amazing,” Yunho whispers, “that’s all. It’s like…because I can’t hear you in my head, all the other ways I see you and touch you have been amplified. I mean, you’ve always smelled so amazing. But right now I just want to live with your scent all around me, all the time. It’s intoxicating.”

Jaejoong looks terribly skeptical. “You are on a roll tonight.”

“And you’ve always been…soft. Gentle, and with muscles in all the right places. But now it’s as though I’m feeling you for the first time and I—“ Yunho slides hands up Jaejoong’s arms and down his back, pulling him in close to bury his nose in his mate’s neck, “I can’t get enough of you. I don’t understand it.”

Jaejoong doesn’t say anything at first, but he loops his arms back around Yunho dutifully, resting his head on Yunho’s shoulder. Bambi gives a faint cheer of relief. “Is this…maybe how it should have been?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I hadn’t hid how I felt, would these…feelings…be a part of what would have happened?”

“Are you feeling apologetic? I thought we were past this.”

“I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” Jaejoong shakes his head, “but I mean—had I admitted my attraction right away and had you reciprocated, had we tested our bond and spent actual time together with no gumihos or vampires to distract us, would this thing that’s here now, this desire we have, would it be the same? Is this how it’s supposed to feel before you mate?”

Yunho considers this. Mating is different werewolf to werewolf, so it’s hard to say. But, if he must answer— “I hope so.”

“Why?”

“Because that would mean this really is easy to fix. It would mean our bond isn’t far off from reforming.”

“Do you think so?” 

Jaejoong lifts his head to peer at Yunho. He’s unbelievably beautiful, the low light of the bedside lamp casting shadows on parts of his face and highlighting some strands of his hair. For a moment, Yunho can’t breathe, he’s so overcome with love. _Mine_ , Bambi growls and Yunho leans forward, kissing with an edge of desperation.

“Yes,” he whispers, as Jaejoong’s hands thread into his hair, and then speech becomes impossible as Jaejoong’s tongue slips into his mouth. _Yes_ , he thinks. There’s an unknown element to kissing now. Often, their encouragement and appreciative sounds echoed in their bond rather than out loud (mostly in an attempt to be courteous to extra sensitive werewolf ears,) but now, when Yunho does something with his lips that his mate likes, Jaejoong makes a point to moan happily or inhale loudly through his nose. It’s like Jaejoong has become an entirely new person for Yunho to love.

Somewhere, in the back of Yunho’s mind, he knows that once they have the bond back, everything is going to be twice as sexy. Twice as beautiful. Twice as loved.

He’ll never take anything for granted ever again.

There’s a sound of someone on the phone outside. Yunho doesn’t pay it any mind until he hears the name _Changmin_ and then he pulls away from Jaejoong’s mouth. His mate pouts. “ _Now_ what is it?”

“Be back in a minute,” Yunho murmurs, “I think that’s Changmin.”

Jaejoong lets him up, pulling the blankets around himself as Yunho heads towards the door. “I’m going to fall asleep if you’re not here.”

“I’ll be right back, promise.”

The timing is incidentally perfect, the Marrok passing by their door just as Yunho steps through. “Is that Changmin?”

“Siwon actually. He hung up on me,” Eric frowns at the phone, like he could punish the Alpha through it, “he said it was an emergency.”

Yunho’s eyebrows furrow a moment. “With his pack?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Eric looks contemplative. 

Yunho swallows. “With mine?”

“They’re not yours, right now,” Eric tells him, “if you need to worry about something, I’ll let you know. You just focus on your mate.”

It’s an order. It’s supposed to make Yunho feel better, but instead, he gets a niggling sense of doubt that it does indeed have to do with his pack and that something isn’t right. He considers calling Changmin himself, but Bambi points out that Eric would see that as undermining his authority and the consequences would not be pretty.

_Trust him_ , Bambi urges.

Yunho doesn’t really have a choice, and so goes back into the room, curling around a sleepy Jaejoong and kissing his neck. “What’wasit?” His mate slurs. He hadn’t been kidding about falling asleep. 

“Dunno. Wouldn’t tell me. Pretty sure I heard him talking about Changmin, though.”

Jaejoong frowns, blinking slowly.

“I know, but I was ordered not to do anything about it.”

“But if something happened…should I call? He didn’t order me to stay away.”

“No,” Yunho shakes his head, “he’s right. We’ve got enough to worry about right now. Let’s fix us first.”

“Mmmkay.”

Yunho press his face into Jaejoong’s neck a moment before sliding down and resting against Jaejoong’s chest. He sighs as he feels Jaejoong’s arms come around him, smiles as his mate lands a sleepy kiss on his hair. “Love you,” Yunho says, “love everything about you.”

Jaejoong pats his back. “You can wax poetic at me in the morning. Go to sleep, you big sap.”

Yunho does, hoping and praying that back home, his pack is safe.


	6. Six

The Matron comes back. 

It’s at the worst possible time, when Changmin’s watering Yoona’s flowers at the edge of their property and Junsu’s in the kitchen (near the door,) making Sulli tea. Sulli has taken a strange liking to Junsu’s tea (or perhaps it’s just Junsu; Changmin can’t say he blames her.)

Changmin’s half way through the rose bushes when he hears it: Junsu’s vicious bark, something that rarely escapes his human mouth, followed by a painful screech. Agony explodes through their bond and he running, half way through the door before he realizes he forgot to let go of the hose and there’s water spraying everywhere. He doesn’t pay it any attention, racing towards a snarl that now sounds like Yoochun. 

But it’s Junsu Changmin sees first, who’s lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood— _Changmin’s mate_ , clutching at his middle, skin white, the stink of sliver permeating the room. Changmin very nearly loses control and he has to take a gulp of air to clear his head.

Yoochun’s facing off with the _Matron_ who has a bleeding gash down one side that Changmin knows is Junsu’s doing. It’s exactly the way Changmin had taught him to swipe out at an opponent.

“Give me Sulli.”

Changmin has to remind himself that he now has a pack under his care and he can’t just tear the woman apart, much as he would like. Yoochun’s bending over Junsu, holding his hands over whatever wounds are there and Changmin decides to entrust his mate to his friend so he can get rid of this problem once and for all. _She has to die!_ Changmin’s wolf screeches, _she hurt what is ours_.

The wolf Changmin had seen last time steps out from behind the Matron, just as thin, just as pale, looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here. It’s at the same time that Minho nearly face plants into the puddle of blood on the floor as he comes to an abrupt halt. The malnourished wolf steps forward, fingers pulling at her long hair, and she holds up a hand at Changmin. But Minho doesn’t let her, reaching out with lightning speed to grasp the wolf-girl; Changmin hears bones snap, the girl scream, and in the confusion he lunges for the Matron. 

But she’s quick, quicker than Changmin had expected, and is out the door in a flash. She doesn’t even look back, doesn’t even seem to worry about her other wolf that Minho has pinned to the floor. And then it’s not worth chasing her, not when he can feel Junsu’s pain and hear him moaning on the floor.

“Junsu,” Changmin whispers, and he’s kneeling in blood, cradling his mate’s head as Yoochun fumbles with a phone.

_I got her, right? Like how you showed me. Right across the chest_

“Oh, Junsu. Yes, you got her. Stay still.”

There’s a _lot_ of blood. Changmin’s not a doctor, but it certainly doesn’t take one to know whatever hit Junsu nicked something extremely important. If he hadn’t been a werewolf, he’d be dead. As it is, he’s having a hard time because there’s silver, even if Changmin can’t see it. Junsu’s always had more trouble with silver than the average wolf.

Changmin makes a decision. He trusts Minho to deal with the other wolf. As soon as he hears Yoochun’s panicked “Siwon, _help_ ,” he yanks Junsu into unconsciousness and into his sanctuary. 

 

— 

 

Junsu’s hammock is swaying in a breeze, cradling both of them between two of his palm trees. Changmin can hear Junsu’s ocean in the background and he tightens his arms around his mate. “Junsu.”

“It hurts.”

Changmin knows it, can feel an echo of Junsu’s pain in their bond, and knows it’s excruciating. “I’m sorry.”

From next to them, there’s a growl, and Changmin glances over to see Fluffball sitting beside the hammock, clearly guarding them both. Changmin’s wolf nods in appreciation. 

“I’m going to fix this,” Changmin tells them both, “no one was supposed to get hurt, especially not you.”

“I’ll survive,” Junsu whispers, “just. Do something about that bitch.”

“Oh, I will,” Changmin promises. She’s a walking target, as far as he’s concerned. He doesn’t even care what anyone else says, when he gets his hands or teeth or claws near her, she’s dead. No one survives after hurting his mate. No exceptions.

“I’ll be ok, here,” Junsu whispers, “Fluffball is with me. Go be an Alpha. I promise I won’t go anywhere.”

“You better not.”

“I won’t,” Junsu whispers, with such utter conviction, Changmin is suddenly convinced of it.

As long as he stays awake here, and doesn’t completely fall unconscious, he’s safe. Changmin turns to Fluffball. “You take control if there’s even a hint of him slipping.”

“I won’t, Changmin. I love you too much.”

Changmin decides not to argue. Fluffball agrees anyway. So Changmin kisses Junsu instead, gently, before pulling himself from his mate’s mind.

The first thing he sees is Yoochun’s bloody hands doing something over Junsu’s body. A very pale Boa is holding the phone to Yoochun’s ear. “Yoochun?”

“Focusing,” Yoochun says.

It’s not an order for anything, just a plea to not break his concentration. So Changmin quiets. He has Junsu’s blood all down his side and it drips as he stands. It’s really, really bad. He can’t stay here. Can’t focus. Can’t remain in control of himself for much longer.

“Minho?” he asks Boa.

“Brought the wolf downstairs. You may want to consider washing. I promise we won’t let him…Junsu will be here when you get back.”

Changmin’s more than grateful for her choice of words. He leaves a kiss and a smudge of blood on her cheek, strips himself of his clothes so as to lessen the mess spread out on the floor. Jaejoong is going to have a fit.

He purposefully does not look at Junsu, deciding instead to focus on the feel of his mate thrumming through their bond. What matters is that Junsu is alive, hiding from the pain of almost being spilt in half, and that he’ll get through it. 

But Changmin can’t live with his mate’s blood all over him without going crazy, so he does have to wash it off. Then, if Yoochun’s still working on Junsu, Changmin will go down to the silver cage in the basement to confront the captured wolf.

Junsu has spasms while Changmin’s hurriedly scrubbing at his skin, the water scalding. But he lives through them all, Changmin sending him all the love and comfort he can manage, Fluffball keeping Junsu grounded. _He’s going to be ok_.

He _will_.

The pool of blood has stopped growing, Changmin notices when he comes back downstairs, but Junsu is an ashen gray and the new Alpha has to take a few calming breaths.

“Siwon’s on his way,” Yoochun says, without looking up, “Thankfully he was in Seoul and not Busan so he should be here within the hour. But I’ve stopped the bleeding. For now.”

“Thank you. I can’t—I can’t be here.”

“I know,” Yoochun nods. He still keeps his gaze fixed on Junsu, his hand pressing against whatever veins or arteries or what have you that Siwon had directed him to do over the phone.

“Do you need something?”

“I’m alright.” Yoochun looks up for a second to give him a smile before looking back down at Junsu’s insides. “Keep everyone away, though. Need to concentrate.”

Changmin swallows again, brushing against Junsu, still safely cocooned in his sanctuary, now curled against his wolf, fingers buried in his soft fur, their breathing in tandem. Changmin considers rejoining them, but Junsu sends across his intent to heal with his wolf. _Go talk to that bitch of a wolf Minho has. Get out some of your aggression_.

Changmin should.

They have a few spare bedrooms in the basement, and one has a cage, the bars made of silver so no wolf could get in or out without having a key to unlock the door. Every werewolf pack is required to have one, in case they ever have a wolf that goes crazy and can’t be controlled. Thankfully, Yunho has never had to use it on a crazy wolf, though he has sent wolves down here to chill out when they get really riled up, but that’s all use the room has seen. It isn’t meant to be a prison, as there’s a comfortable bed and shelves of books and even a television.

The she wolf isn’t touching any of them. 

She’s huddled in the center, legs held to her chest, chin on her kneecaps. Clearly she’d reset whatever bone of hers Minho had cracked because she isn’t in pain. It had served it’s purpose, though, which had been to assert that Minho is more dominant and that she isn’t allowed to try anything. With no pack, she has to listen.

Minho hands Changmin the key. “She’s Chinese. Her Korean’s pretty bad.”

Changmin doesn’t speak much Mandarin. But he knows for sure Siwon’s fluent, and he’s doubly glad the other Alpha is on his way. Changmin wonders if maybe being nice would help get her to talk.

“Hello,” he says in Mandarin, “what’s your name?”

She says something that sounds vaguely vile and is definitely not a name. Back to Korean, then.

“Right. Ok. Well, look. My mate is lying on his deathbed, and I’m pretty sure it’s thanks to you. I’m not really in the mood for pleasantries. You can sit here and rot for all I care.”

She eyes him, frowning, before looking away. He decides to try another approach.

“Do you know Sulli?”

That gets her interest. “Sulli?”

“Yes. My wolf. Pack.”

She blinks, then nods, seemingly satisfied. “Good.”

Changmin crosses his arms. He doesn’t know what to think. The girl seems resigned to just sit and not worry about anything. Does _he_ need to worry? Maybe he should get Sulli.

“What’s your _name_?”

He doesn’t make it an order, wants to give her the option of choosing to tell him herself. She keeps her mouth shut, though she seems to radiate happiness at this, like she’s amazed she’s being given a choice. 

She’s pretty up close. But this time he notices the strands of her hair that are dyed orange and purple. There’s a bit of blue in her bangs that’s almost as dark as the black. But what really draws his attention is the bracelet she has on her wrist. It’s unremarkable save for the small gold charm hanging from it. That’s one character he does know; Yunho had made them all memorize it. _巫. Wu_. The symbol for a Chinese shaman. 

This wolf is a magician.

Changmin very abruptly doesn’t want anything more to do with her. Magic makes Changmin extraordinarily uncomfortable and he’d like to stay as far away from it as possible. Siwon can talk to her. Maybe some Mandarin will loosen her tongue.

“I don’t want Sulli down here,” he tells Minho.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“If you don’t mind. Just. Be careful. Don’t talk to her anymore and don’t get near her.”

Minho sits down, remote control for the television in hand and Changmin leaves, satisfied. One thing at a time.

 

— 

 

Changmin goes back into Junsu’s head, holding him tight, easing his pain as much as he could until he senses Siwon arriving. “Be back,” He promises, kissing Junsu’s forehead, and stumbling back into his own mind.

Siwon looks frazzled, which is saying a lot because the ancient Alpha rarely has a hair out of place. He actually swears when he sees Junsu. “It’s a miracle he survived that.”

“I know.”

They lift him onto the counter under Siwon’s careful direction, Changmin sweeping plates and flowers and mail off of it in a second to make room. “Light,” Siwon demands and Changmin brings him five different kinds of lamps. Siwon uses them all. “Now go away. Yoochun, you stay. You did a really good job and I need some help.”

Yoochun looks like he’s about to collapse into a bloody pile himself. So before he leaves, Changmin shoves most of his remaining strength at his second before stumbling to the couch and falling over onto it. 

 

— 

 

When he wakes up, his first thought is _Junsu_. Their bond says that he’s alive, and Changmin breathes a silent sigh of relief. Junsu’s still not awake, but he’s peaceful, resting, and not in as much pain.

Changmin opens his eyes, noticing that someone’s put a pillow under his head and tossed a blanket over his body. Somehow, he’d managed to forget that he’d gotten blood on his clothes again and his stomach sinks a little. Jaejoong is _seriously_ going to kill them. They’ll probably have to get a new couch.

He sits up, very nearly stepping on Yoochun who’s curled up on the floor next to him, passed out. Yoochun looks exhausted. He doesn’t wake up when Changmin lifts him and puts him on the couch, tossing the blanket over his second and patting his head. Yoochun deserves medals of honor, as far as Changmin’s concerned.

He finds Junsu upstairs in their bed. Siwon has an ear pressed to his chest, eyes closed, and Changmin waits, fighting back an urge to crawl to his mate and demand assurances from the other Alpha.

“He’ll survive,” Siwon says, not even looking at Changmin. “He needs to lay still while everything heals, but he should be up and walking in a few days. She really did a number on him.”

“I smelled silver.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Siwon slips his medical instruments back into his back. He doesn’t look as out of place as he had earlier. “She filleted him like a fish and then must have stuck him with a needle, because there was liquid silver pumping through his entire body.”

“Like liquid with silver particles floating in it?” It’s the only explanation, because molten silver doesn’t make any sense. Though how she did it—she’s fast. Changmin had taken seconds to get into the house after he’d felt Junsu’s panic, and to have done this much damage in such a short amount of time is unbelievable. 

“Exactly like that,” Siwon nods. “When do you plan on calling Eric?”

“When I have answers.”

Siwon snorts, “You’re so like Yunho. Though fair warning, he knows something’s wrong because I hung up on him mid conversation to get here as fast as I could.”

_Great_ , Changmin thinks. Now he has a pissed off Marrok to appease.

“When your mate wakes up, you can let him suck on ice chips. No food! I have a surgery to get to tonight, but I’ll stop by in the morning to check up on him. And I don’t want him changing. He needs to heal like this for awhile before he can do that properly.”

“No food, no changing,” Changmin nods. _But lots of love and care_.

He finally walks forward, legs bumping against the edge of the bed and he takes Junsu’s hand. It’s warm, mostly, and Changmin gives it an emotional squeeze.

“Is there anything else you need?” Siwon asks, a hand on Changmin’s shoulder.

“Actually, yes, if you have a moment.”

“I’ve got several.”

Changmin tells him about the wolf he has locked up as they walk downstairs, and Siwon’s eyebrows shoot up when Changmin says she doesn’t seem to speak much Korean.

“I felt another wolf, but it was very indistinct, like she’d been pulling in on herself. But now that you tell me she’s a shaman, that makes sense. We don’t do well with magic.” By “we” Siwon means werewolves, Changmin knows, and he shudders again. “I’d be happy to talk to her. She’s not one of yours, though? She feels extremely familiar.”

“What? No. Not my wolf.”

“Then why—“ Siwon comes to an abrupt halt, right before they reach the door to the cage.

In retrospect, Changmin should have seen it coming. Nothing is ever accidental or unconnected in the world of werewolves, and definitely not in terms of this pack.

“Siwon?”

The Alpha’s angry. Livid, even. Frustration and hurt is pouring off of him in waves, and Changmin has to call on his wolf so as not to get caught up in the emotion of it.

“Oh, no,” Siwon breathes, “no, that can’t be right.”

“What’s wrong?”

The door flies open, Minho appearing behind it. In the background, the television is blaring a variety show rerun and someone is laughing uproariously as they exaggerate a story about meeting a celebrity. “What’s going on?” 

The wolf hasn’t moved form the center but she’s facing the wall now, impossibly small. Siwon looks ready to cry.

Minho looks at Changmin, questions forming on his tongue but Changmin can only shrug.

“Song Qian,” Siwon orders, “look at me.”

Even though Changmin isn’t affected by the order, he can feel its immense power, something he’s only ever felt off Yunho in his most dominant moments. The wolf has no option but to turn, and she’s on her knees, bent in half as she bows in front of Siwon. 

Minho stumbles to the ground and Changmin takes a hold of him, shielding him so that he can stand up right. “Go upstairs,” he says, and it doesn’t take a second for Minho to do exactly that, gasping in his relief to get away from the Siwon’s overwhelming presence.

In perhaps a fit of insanity, Changmin reaches out to touch Siwon’s elbow. “Do you know her?”

“Once upon a time,” Siwon answers, swallows, and his attention is then fully on the wolf in the silver cage. “You were _dead_.”

There are tears streaming down the wolf-shaman’s cheeks. Then Siwon speaks softly in Mandarin and it’s all it takes for her to flip onto her back and expose herself, huge sobs wracking her body as she shuts her eyes and convulses.

Changmin hands Siwon the key to the cage. This clearly is something the two alphas can discuss later. “I’ll be upstairs.”

He turns the television up a little before he leaves to try and cover the ensuing conversation from any of his pack members in the house. It’s definitely a private matter.

Yoochun’s awake when Changmin reaches the kitchen, Boa feeding him soup by spoonfuls. The counter is clean and the smell of bleach and soap in the air is sharp. Changmin wraps his arms around Yoochun (nearly knocking into the bowl of broth,) and breaks down into tears.

“Hey,” Yoochun breathes, “come on, man, I don’t think I can deal with this.”

“ _Thank you_. Oh god, Yoochun. If you hadn’t—you thought fast and you saved his life. I owe you everything.”

“You don’t owe me anything. He’s pack.”

“Park Yoochun, you’re supposed to say ‘buy my wife diamonds,’” Boa hisses.

“Other men are not going to buy you diamonds,” Yoochun retorts, “I will not stand for that, even if it’s just Changmin.”

Changmin snorts, getting a little snot on Yoochun’s shirt. He wipes his eyes. “I mean it. We owe you.”

“You’d do the same thing for me.”

“Yes, but—“

“If you keep insisting, I’m going to ask to kiss Junsu again.”

At the moment, Changmin thinks he’ll say yes to anything. He puts his head back down on Yoochun’s shoulder, wanting only support and very tired of having to be so strong. He wants Yunho to come back. He wants Jaejoong. “You’ve earned a few kisses, at the very least.”

It gets a laugh out of Yoochun, and Changmin’s almost positive Boa’s smiling as well. God, but he loves them. They are so amazing and he has so much respect for them, especially after everything they’ve been through together. Most of all, he knows how much they love each other, which, he admits, is probably why he doesn’t really mind them kissing Junsu for fun. He sort of understands it. His mate is difficult to resist.

“How is he?” Yoochun asks.

“He’ll be fine. He’s in his sanctuary, sleeping. Regenerating with his wolf. Once he’s a bit better he can change and Siwon says tomorrow he can eat. All because of you.”

“I’m glad he’s ok.”

Boa goes back to feeding her mate after that, neither of them saying anything about Changmin sitting on the floor and putting his head in Yoochun’s lap. With his mate out of commission for the time being, Yoochun is the next logical choice for care, because they know with absolute certainty Yoochun has no desire to use Changmin’s weakness against him.

He doesn’t move until he hears Siwon coming back up the stairs. Changmin braces himself, but the other Alpha has his emotions well checked. “Where can we talk?”

“Jaejoong’s study,” Changmin answers. 

“Want us to get some food?”

Boa means ordering out because there’s no way any of them are up for cooking. Or more cleaning. Changmin nods.

Siwon gives Changmin back the key.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s. Well, she _was_ , at one point in time, a mate to one of my wolves. Zhou Mi.”

“Zhou Mi’s mate?” Changmin’s met Zhou Mi a few times, since he’s close with Kyuhyun. Changmin had heard that Zhou Mi had once had a mate in China, before they came to Korea together and joined Siwon’s pack. But Kyuhyun had told Changmin she’d died almost a century ago. Clearly, that’s not the case.

“Apparently, she broke their bond. Like…” Siwon trails off giving Changmin a look, “don’t do anything rash, Changmin, but like how she did with Yunho and Jaejoong.”

Changmin’s wolf very nearly gets control of him. “She what?”

“The matron threatened to kill Sulli unless Qian broke their bond.” 

Obviously, Qian had chosen Sulli’s life. Changmin has to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths for fear of charging downstairs and throttling the witch of a wolf to death. 

“Qian’s—she’s controlled, to an extent. The Matron, or whatever she is, has a little magic of her own and unfortunately knows that Qian is her real name. She uses that to make Qian do all of her dirty work for her. She told me that the Matron has always known of her—since I’m sure you know, werewolf magicians are very rare—and waited until the opportune moment to steal her away from me. The Matron said to cut her bond to Zhou Mi or she’d kill him and Qian wanted them both to live. I—“ this time it’s Siwon that takes a deep breath and Changmin doesn’t need to be a genius to see how upsetting the memories are for him, “ _we_ thought she had died. It took Zhou Mi so long to recover.”

“I remember Kyuhyun telling me.”

“Kyuhyun’s stopped him from committing suicide more times than I care to count. I finally ordered Zhou Mi not to…he’s still held under that order and he’d jump off a bridge if I released it.”

Siwon pinches the bridge of his nose. “Changmin, I know it’s a lot to ask, but—“

“She’s going to stay here until Yunho and Jaejoong are fixed.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you to let me take her home. Not yet, anyway. I did ask her about Yunho and Jaejoong and she said it’s possible to fix the bond but they have to reform it on their own.”

As she and Zhou Mi will have to do, if Zhou Mi can find it in himself to forgive her. 

“What I’d like is for Zhou Mi to come here. He may—he may not want to stay. But he’ll want to see her. As it is, my pack felt all that emotion before I could get a lid on it and they’re clamoring for answers.”

Changmin snorts. “I imagine they would be. I guess that’s fine. You have Seohyun, so I suppose it’s only fair. Did the wolf—did Qian say anything else?”

“Well she doesn’t want to be with the Matron. So there’s that. But that… _thing_ …has a lot of wolves. Not just girls. Qian said Sulli doesn’t know, but the Matron has male wolves too, that she keeps locked away for god knows what reason.”

Changmin’s getting a headache. He can feel it starting to pound against his temples relentlessly. He needs his mate: awake, happy, _whole_. Changmin would feel so much better if Junsu were awake.

“I had to leave because my emotions were getting the best of me. I’ll talk to her again in a little while, but—Changmin.”

“I know. I have to call Eric now.” 

_We need our mate_ , Changmin’s wolf whines.

“She wants to see Sulli.”

“I’ll go down with her and Minho. That should be safe enough.”

“I thought you were downplaying the mate thing?”

“I am. But it doesn’t mean the link isn’t there and that Minho will be very good protection. And I need a distraction until Junsu wakes up.”

“I’ll go check on him.”

When they emerge from the study, Yoochun’s facial expression makes it very clear that he’d been eavesdropping. There’s a strain in his jaw that Changmin hopes isn’t causing him to break any teeth. “Boa had to go for a walk,” Yoochun explains, leaving out the very clear _for fear of beating Qian into a pulp._ Changmin thinks it’s very good luck that most of the pack isn’t home, otherwise they’d have a huge problem.

“Are you alright?”

“That depends. Can I use a little violence?”

“Probably not,” Changmin admits. Not if she really is Zhou Mi’s mate. Violence will only make the situation worse. 

“Then I’m not really ok.”

He’s distracted from squeezing Yoochun’s shoulder by the sound of someone lingering on the steps. It’s Sulli, looking pale, and Minho right behind her. His hand is hovering over shoulder, as though he’s trying to decide if he should touch her or not. Changmin glares at him, because he doesn’t need to deal with that too, and Minho shoves the hand into his pocket. He doesn’t have to touch her in order to be appropriately protective.

“Follow me,” Changmin orders.

He leads them down to the basement. Qian is lying on the bed, and Sulli screeches the second she sees the shaman. Changmin hands Minho the key, listening to Qian stumble through Korean and Sulli try to speak Mandarin. “It’s your decision if you want to let your mate into the cage or not. I trust you.”

_I trust you to look out for her well being_. Minho nods. He understands, and Changmin feels proud. He honestly can’t deal with this any longer. He wants Yunho to come back. Changmin wants Junsu.

Siwon’s in the kitchen, on his phone, most likely speaking to someone in his pack. It’s probably Zhou Mi; Changmin can hear the comfort in Siwon’s voice, and the compassion. He considers calling Kyuhyun to give him a heads up, but decides he only has time to text. 

As he walks up the stairs, he types: ` Song Qian is alive and in my basement. Pissed at her cause she ruined my pack. Fair warning.` It only takes a moment for the reply to come. `What? Omg WHAT.`. Changmin doesn’t reply. He’s sure Kyuhyun will have his hands full keeping Zhou Mi in check.

Junsu’s still sleeping, but already he looks better. Changmin decides to wait ten more minutes before doing anything more and curls up beside his mate.

“I need you, Kim Junsu, you’d better wake up soon.”

Junsu sighs in his sleep, stirring the hair on top of Changmin’s head, as if to say, _I’ll wake when I’m ready, Shim Changmin, don’t do anything stupid!_

“I love you,” Changmin whispers. He pulls out his phone again, acknowledging Kyuhyun’s follow up text of `Seohyun’s fine btw` with a `really glad`, before bring up his keypad and typing in Eric’s number. Phoning him with Junsu nearby will make Changmin feel better.

The Marrok answers in half a ring.

“Shim Changmin,” Eric hisses. 

Changmin winces. The Marrok’s tone of voice is somewhere between extreme displeasure and outright anger. So maybe waiting this long to call Eric had been a really shitty plan. 

“What the fuck is going on?”


	7. Seven

It’s clear that something’s wrong.

Eric glowers, Hyesung hovering around him in a way that is similar to how Jaejoong hovers around Yunho when something is amiss. It’s also clear it has to do with his pack. And they are his, no matter if he is currently Alpha or not.

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Eric says, when Yunho finally corners him. 

“So there is something wrong.”

Eric gives him a look. “No one’s died,” he finally says. 

Yunho doesn’t find it reassuring. “But someone’s hurt?”

“It’s a pack of werewolves. People are always hurt, Jung Yunho. Now. I’ve decided to overrule Hyesung, to whatever end that may mean for me. Go make love to your mate.”

Yunho’s anger melts away in a second. “What?”

“The pack is out. I’m taking Hyesung to lunch I hopes it may appease him. No one will be here for quite some time. Do I need to tell you again?”

No. Not really. But it’s clearly a distraction technique. Yunho swallows. “I still want answers.” He spins on his heel before Eric can change his mind, and goes straight to where Jaejoong’s idly typing at his computer. He’s been trying to start a new book, though with little success. Their current situation doesn’t really lend itself to good plot ideas.

Yunho pounces. He’s not really sure if he wants to pin Jaejoong to the floor right there, or maybe pick him up and toss him on a bed and go at it for hours. So for starters, he pushes the computer back and lifts Jaejoong onto his feet, ripping off his earphones. “Yunho, what—“

But Yunho kisses him, gentle at first, hardly believing what they’re aloowed, and then deep, nearly breaking Jaejoong’s chair (a strangely familiar scenario.)

“Jung Yunho,” Jaejoong gasps, when Yunho pulls away for air, “you’re not allowed to start anything we can’t—“

Yunho honestly loves Jaejoong’s lips. Really, he does. But when that’s all he’s really been kissing for the past few days, the rest of Jaejoong’s body is worlds more tempting. Jaejoong’s jaw, for instance, and his birthmark, that Yunho’s more than happy to suckle as Jaejoong’s fingers slide up Yunho’s shoulders and into his hair. “ _Yunho_.” His collarbones, Yunho thinks, as he pushes Jaejoong up against a wall so he can run his nose down Jaejoong’s skin and lick into the hollow of his throat, nearly losing it as he feels Jaejoong vibrate as he moans.

He’s crying before he realizes, tears wiped away by Jaejoong’s fingers. His smile is brilliant. “Eric said yes?”

Yunho nods.

They unravel.

It’s not even about the bond. It’s never been, Yunho realizes, as Jaejoong pulls of his shirt and undoes his pants, and they’re shoving back comforters and pillows. It’s just that _he’s in love with Jaejoong_. And yes, alright. Yunho’s wanted this so bad. He’s wanted to feel Jaejoong underneath him again and press against one another skin to skin and has wanted—so terribly—to slide his fingers into Jaejoong and wring sounds out of him no one else will ever hear. Just because it’s Jaejoong. Not because it might bring their bond back, not because it could fix everything, but because _Jung Yunho’s in love with Kim Jaejoong_ and he always will be. Yunho _wants_ to do this. He wants to be with Jaejoong, fuck everything else and despite everything else.

“Hey,” Jaejoong breathes. They’re already sweating, shuddering, and they aren’t going to last long, but it’s ok. It’s ok, Yunho knows, because they have a long time. They have as long as they need. “Love you.”

Yunho kisses him.

He’s always loved the noises Jaejoong makes.

But it’s different this time. Yunho’s not just enjoying the sounds, not just trying to get them out of Jaejoong, but interpreting them. There’s no bond in which Yunho can feel Jaejoong’s pleasure or know what new things he likes and what he wants Yunho to do again and again and again. So he listens. And he feels. When he sucks a mark into Jaejoong’s shoulder and Jaejoong trembles, groans into the shell of Yunho’s ear, then Yunho sucks harder. When he licks down past Jaejoong’s ribs and bites into the skin of his belly and Jaejoong squirms, and complains, Yunho laughs, and moves onto his hip bone. He kisses down his thigh, well aware of Jaejoong’s cock, desperate for attention. But he waits until he hear’s a whine, a desperate plea, before wrapping a hand around it and licking a stripe up the underside, gentle, but insistent and he _waits wait waits_ , humming around Jaejoong, _listening_ to the sounds he pulls from his mate’s throat.

“Yunho,” Jaejoong warns, and his fingers drag up Yunho’s biceps and tugs at his hair, “if you don’t do something—“

Yunho kisses his way back up to Jaejoong’s mouth. He loves the whimpers that slip past Jaejoong’s lips and the way his breath hitches and he hiccups, head thrown back and eyes blow wide as Yunho pushes into him. “Better?”

“Come _here_ ,” Jaejoong orders, and _God_. Yunho’s never been in control. Yunho has never been able to control himself, not when Jaejoong kisses him, meeting his thrusts like they’re breathing, and there’s something so beautiful about knowing that they can do this—be this—without a bond, that this is something they can just do and get right and never fuck up ever. 

With no sounds echoing in his mind, Jaejoong’s breathing is sharp against his ear, and Yunho snaps his hips, intent on making each gasp longer, louder, trying so desperately to keep his own orgasm under control. But Jaejoong—the little fucker, God love him—plays so dirty, and even though Yunho’s got a hand around Jaejoong’s cock and is stroking in time with his thrusts and finds a damn good angle, Jaejoong knows exactly where to touch him. Jaejoong knows the sounds are getting to him, knows without having to read his mind what he likes and knows, _the smug mother fucker_ , how good he feels around Yunho. Jaejoong knows Yunho likes the way he twists his hips and he knows Yunho likes lips to tug on his ear and Jaejoong knows Yunho loves it when Jaejoong talks dirty.

Yunho’s never been in control of this, not ever. Jaejoong rules him, body and soul and mind. He is bound to Jaejoong, tied to his everything, and it’s this thought that tips him over the edge, hips erratic as he bites down on Jaejoong’s shoulder and loses himself, nearly passes out from the force of his orgasm, from the love Jaejoong professes over and over and over.

He can’t even think, can’t even process breathing until his lightheadedness passes, and then he nuzzles Jaejoong’s ear, his neck, kisses him, grasps Jaejoong’s cock and jerks him off slow and easy as Jaejoong shudders and comes all over Yunho’s hand.

“Love you.”

“Mm,” Jaejoong murmurs.

Jaejoong reaches up to drag his face down for a kiss, and Yunho cradles his face, sure he’ll never be able to get enough of this.

It’s not until they’re in the shower, laughing, kissing, that Yunho realizes their bond did not come back. 

It’s not as upsetting as he might have thought.

 

— 

 

Hyesung gives them the stink eye when they finally come downstairs, hours later. 

Yunho shakes his head at Eric to say _no bond_ , but Yunho can’t keep the smile off his face, can’t stop pressing kisses into Jaejoong’s cheek. They haven’t let go of their hands and Yunho isn’t planning to any time soon.

“Can you feel _anything_?” Eric asks. He’s starting a pot of coffee.

“Besides immense satisfaction?” Jaejoong purrs. Yunho kisses him.

“In the pack bonds,” Eric clarifies, grinning. Hyesung rolls his eyes.

It’s a little difficult to focus past Jaejoong’s arms around his middle. But Yunho tries anyway, urged on by Eric’s suggestion, and he focuses on the link he has to the pack. He recognizes Eric right away, and there’s sort of indistinct murmurs of the other wolves. But…he almost misses it, right there, on the edge of the pack awareness: Jaejoong. It’s not a mate bond, or much of anything, really, but if he concentrates, he can feel a bit of Jaejoong flirting around the edge of consciousness.

“Oh,” he breathes.

Jaejoong’s arm tightening around him tell Yunho his mate is feeling the same thing.

“Excellent,” Eric nods, “that’s good. We’re getting somewhere.” He gives Hyesung a grin, “I told you sex would help.”

Hyesung turns his nose up, lip curling. Eric just laughs.

“What is it?” Jaejoong asks.

“It’s the start of a bond. It’s how you’re _supposed to mate_.”

“It’s normal?” Jaejoong asks, sounding awed. Technically, Yunho muses, they wouldn’t really know about what’s normal. Jaejoong looks up at him, tears in his eyes.

“Don’t cry,” Yunho begs, “I can’t handle you crying right now.” 

“But—“ Jaejoong has to take a deep breath to control himself. Yunho kisses him, knowing what he’s going to say. _But I’m so happy. But this is such good news_. 

“I know,” Yunho says.

“Go on a date,” Eric says, “go have dinner. Go to a movie. Just spend time together. That’s all you need to do. The rest will happen with time.”

A date, Yunho thinks. Jaejoong smiles up at him, blinding. They can do that.

 

— 

 

Eric makes a reservation at some ridiculously fancy restaurant in Seoul and even slips Yunho his credit card when Hyesung looks the other way. “Stay out late.”

“We will.”

They spend some time getting ready, trying not to get too distracted with their fingers and their lips, only just managing to make out the door in time for their reservation. Honestly, Yunho doesn’t remember much of the dinner besides Jaejoong’s smile and his laughter and that small, fluttery piece of the pack that feels a little bit like his mate. _Finally_. 

“You’ve really,” Yunho pauses, unsure of his word choice. Jaejoong takes his fingers, rubbing at them, smiling as he waits for Yunho to gather his thoughts. “Matured? Moved on? A couple years ago you probably would have been blaming yourself for this situation.” Because they didn’t know about _normal_.

Jaejoong only smiles. “I’ve forgiven myself. Sometimes…sometimes I wonder. What would it have been like if I had just told you right off? How would all of those years have been different? But then I start to think about how _we_ would be different, how our relationship wouldn’t be what he have right now and I don’t want that. I like how we are. I like what we have. I like our memories, our promises to each other, our faults, even; I like everything that we’ve built. I don’t want anything else.”

“Really?” He’s never had to ask. He’s never had to be sure, to double check, because Yunho could _feel_ it. “You wouldn’t change anything?”

“Really,” Jaejoong nods. “I am who I am today because of all of that. And more importantly, we are who we are. I don’t want to change. And honestly, I think I handled this well because I was used to cutting the pack off—I learned to deal with having no pack and loving you while not being able to feel you. Imagine if I hadn’t? If we’d both been passed out like you with no one to convince us of the other’s survival this could have been a lot worse. So it’s good, in a way. Fate is a funny thing.”

“You are literally perfect. How are you this amazing?”

“I appreciate the compliment.”

Yunho very nearly chokes on air, laughing. “Why do I feed your ego?”

“Because you love me,” Jaejoong sighs dramatically, and flutters his eyelashes.

“I do,” Yunho agrees, “Let’s get out of here. I don’t really want dessert.”

Yunho tries not to gawk at the final price of their dinner and resolves to find a way to pay Eric back. He wouldn’t accept money, but Yunho thinks if he gives it enough thought he’ll be able to come up with something half way decent.

Jaejoong insists on window shopping a little, and they stroll down the streets, peeking into store fronts. Yunho makes some mental notes when Jaejoong sighs longingly or stares a few minutes more than he should. Presents are always well-received by his mate, and Yunho will do anything for him.

They end up getting dessert anyway, but only from an ice cream stand, and they share it, Jaejoong holding the paper bowl as they sit on a bench and dig in with gusto. “I might cry,” Yunho tells Jaejoong, half way through the chocolate and gooey caramel.

“Why?” Jaejoong asks.

“Because this is so—nice. Which is weird to say, but we never—“

“Dated.” Jaejoong finished for him.

“Yeah,” Yunho nods. He can count on both his hands the number of times he and Jaejoong actually went out to date instead of locking themselves in the basement with a movie, or sitting in their jacuzzi with a glass of wine. Being Alpha does not afford for a lot of time to himself, never mind time with his mate.

“Let’s go back.”

“Already?” Yunho frowns.

“I want to kiss you,” Jaejoong tells him, “and we can’t do that here.”

They finish their ice cream first, Yunho accepting the few spoonfuls Jaejoong holds up to his lips, and he thinks _screw it_ , and holds his hand on the trip back. It’s late enough so that only half drunk people are out on the street anyway, and it’s not like they care.

“You’re such a romantic,” Jaejoong says.

“You like romantic.”

“I do. Romantic is very, very, nice. But so is kissing, so let’s hurry up. Kissing, Yunho. Make out. Pull off our clothes.”

“Yeah, ok. I get the picture.”

No one’s awake when they get back, and Yunho can hear several wolves breathing all the way from their rooms. It’s impossible not to be heard, but they try anyway, if only to be courteous. Yunho slides Eric’s credit card underneath his door in case (with the way Jaejoong’s eyeing Yunho’s ass, they’ll be sleeping in very late.) “So subtle.”

Jaejoong huffs. “Like you mind.”

Yunho lets Jaejoong kiss him up against their door. He lets Jaejoong spread his hands around the small of Yunho’s back. It’s nice. Sweet. Romantic, even. But they’d already done romantic. Last night. They were soft and sappy and gentle. Yunho’s not really sure he’s up for that.

He waits until he has Jaejoong a little bit distracted, pressing him back against the wall, fingers seeking the waistband of his pants.

“No.”

“What?” Jaejoong raises an eyebrow, and keens a little as Yunho’s nails brush past his briefs.

“No,” Yunho impresses, “not tonight.” He can feel Jaejoong’s heart hammering in his chest, his breath short and harsh as he tries to reconcile the word _no_ with Yunho’s hand down his pants, stroking his cock, and Yunho’s other hand cupping Jaejoong’s face, mouth hot against his ear. 

“ _More please_ ,” is what comes out of his mouth, though, when Yunho bites down on a place he knows he’d made a mark last night before it almost instantly healed. It had been a nice mark. He kisses it again, bites his way up the column of Jaejoong’s throat, and grinds against Jaejoong’s thigh in time to his hand palming Jaejoong’s dick. “Feels like yes,” Jaejoong manages to gasp, before Yunho slides his fingers into Jaejoong’s mouth. 

“ _No_ , you’re not running the show,” Yunho clarifies, pressing down on Jaejoong’s tongue, rubbing his other thumb across the slit of Jaejoong’s cock. “I’m in charge tonight, mate of mine. Not you. You kiss when I say. You speak when I say. You come when I say. Yes?”

“Hng,” Jaejoong manages, and shudders into submission.

 

— 

 

Jaejoong’s a wreck at breakfast. It’s beyond clear Yunho had used him as a very sexy chew toy all night ( _that’s terrible,_ Yunho’s wolf tells him, _please leave the writing analogies to Jaejoong_ ,) but it’s fine. Because Jaejoong has a grin as wide as the Pacific. It’s not hard to imagine all the marks that would have been littered across Jaejoong’s perfect skin were he not a werewolf. _Mine_ , Bambi growls, just imagining it. It’s incredibly distracting.

Junjin whistles at them from two rooms over and Yunho can’t even find it in himself to be mad. Jaejoong’s smile widens even more.

“I see you had a nice date,” Eric comments casually. He’s slipping on his shoes in the entryway.

“Thanks to you,” Yunho acknowledges. “I slipped your…gift…back under your door.”

“I got it,” Eric smiles, “thank you. Can all of you behave while I’m gone or do I need to take another day off to keep the peace?”

“They’ll be fine,” Hyesung says, “and what gift is this?”

“Nothing to worry about and nothing we couldn’t afford,” Eric adds on as Hyesung opens his mouth, “don’t choke anyone over it.”

“Eric—“

“You need to leave or you’ll be late,” Eric tells him, “have a good day. I’ll be back for dinner.”

“I don’t mind cooking again.”

Still two rooms away, Junjin cheers.

 

— 

 

They go out for lunch at a small cafe, Jaejoong’s low collared shirt drawing Yunho’s eyes like magnets. He wants to bite that skin again.

“Do you need to run errands?”

“Something like that,” Jaejoong nods, and tugs on Yunho’s hand, “in here.”

He pulls them into a flower shop.

Jaejoong’s fingers are warm in Yunho’s, and he doesn’t even care about the weird looks he’s getting. It makes Yunho unbelievably happy.

“So where are we going? And why do we have flowers?”

“You’ll see,” Jaejoong tells him.

Maybe it’s somewhere they’ve never been before, at least not together. It’s a little exhilarating to not know where he’s being lead; they’ve never been able to surprise one another with events.

But it’s not an event. Yunho knows where they’re heading as soon as Jaejoong gets off the subway at a particular station and Yunho immediately abandons his romantic ideas. “Oh. Oh, Jaejoong.”

“It’s been awhile since I came here. I thought…I thought now might be a good time.”

“It’s a perfect time,” Yunho assures him, and drapes an arm across his mate’s shoulder.

Yunho’s parents have been dead hundreds of years. They no longer have graves or places he can visit to pay them respect. Jaejoong’s family is also long gone, but he’d kept his parents ashes as well as the ashes of his sisters with him until he’d purchased a place at a funeral hall for them to be kept. They don’t have pictures in front of the urns, but there are a few keepsakes, jewelry and watches and a doll, and Jaejoong uses a key to open the cubby hole and place the flowers inside. They’ll dry like that, until Jaejoong can come and find time to replace them.

Yunho lets him have a moment of peace, bowing his head in a moment of prayer or perhaps just communion with his family. It’s beautiful to watch, and to know that it’s private. The words and things Jaejoong thinks will forever belong to him and his family, and there’s something very special about that. _Maybe this did all happen for a reason._

He takes a moment to think of his own family, while dead a lot longer than Jaejoong’s, still just as alive in his memory. _I hope you’re happy, wherever you are_. Yunho certainly is.

“Ready?” Jaejoong asks, straightening. His smile is bright, though a touch reserved. Appropriate, for a funeral hall.

Yunho nods. 

“I want to go to the supermarket and get what I need for dinner.”

They walk to the store, Yunho keeping his arm around Jaejoong, happy to just feel his mate close. 

“This is nice,” Jaejoong says, “this is really nice, despite everything.”

“It is. We should do it more often. Make Jinki be in charge for a night and go have dinner and see a movie instead of just…” Yunho pauses. He doesn’t want Jaejoong to think he doesn’t _like_ the times they spend in their jacuzzi or locked in Jaejoong’s study with a rented DVD.

“I know,” Jaejoong assures him, “it’s nice to get out. We’ll do it.”

 _Okay_ , Yunho thinks, and kisses Jaejoong’s cheek discreetly. And he looks for Jaejoong’s blush, happy when it spreads down his neck.

This is something he can easily get used to having.

 

—

 

It comes on slow.

Jaejoong’s stirring a pot on the stove, fingers curved around wooden cooking chopsticks, rings glinting when the light from the ceiling lamps hits them just so. His skin looks so perfect, like it’s smooth enough to reflect Jaejoong’s face back at him. 

Yunho’s never given Jaejoong a ring. He probably should. Jaejoong will like that. 

There’s a lot of things they’ve never done. There’s a lot of things Yunho really wants to do. Maybe they’d take a weekend and travel somewhere nice. Bora Bora. Paris. Even Japan. God, they’d never even been to an amusement park. Yunho resolves to take Jaejoong to one, to ride roller coasters and share cotton candy and buy expensive souvenirs. 

Jaejoong cuts his vegetables skillfully, his perfect fingers holding everything just so, guiding the knife, and in moments he’s moving onto the next thing. 

Yunho will never get enough of this, never tire of watching Jaejoong in his element, whether it be while he’s writing or cooking or even just listening to pack members vent their frustrations. He puts his heart and soul into everything he does and Yunho loves that about him. He loves everything about Jaejoong.

His passion, his _com_ passion, his trust, his knowledge, his sense of right and wrong, his loyalty, just…everything. 

_Everything about you is perfect_

Maybe a ring isn’t the right way to say that. A car? No, Jaejoong would just laugh at him. A new computer? He needs something. Something to make Jaejoong smile and roll his eyes and--

_Yunho doesn’t have to buy me anything._

Yunho chuckles. Yeah, he supposes not. 

_Right? Because I’d love you even if you were a pauper._

Yeah, Jaejoong loves shiny things but—wait. Hold on.

Yunho’s heart stops. Had Jaejoong just…did they just mind speak?

Jaejoong’s frozen. Yunho can hear him breathing, hear his heart beating, and right there, right where he’s supposed to be in Yunho’s mind, Yunho can feel—

Jaejoong turns around slowly, face incredulous, tears spilling from the corner of his eyes, _Yunho_. 

Jaejoong’s voice.

Jaejoong’s voice inside of Yunho’s head. In his heart.

 _Jaejae_ , Yunho gasps, entirely overwhelmed. It’s nothing like how he remembers. It’s not like anything he’s felt before. _But it’s there_. Their bond is there. It’s back. Jaejoong’s in his arms before Yunho realizes it, and they’re crying. They’re both struggling for air before they even start to kiss, bodies thrumming with energy and life and Yunho can feel everything.

He feels and knows and understands every little thing about Jaejoong. He’s tired. He’d been so frustrated. He’d ached with want, with the need to have the bond back just as much as Yunho had. Because he loves Yunho. Kim Jaejoong loves Jung Yunho so much it cripples him, makes him unable to think of anything else, makes him unable to do anything but marvel at how amazing it is that he’s loved in return. Yunho’s everything Jaejoong’s ever needed in life, and he tries so hard to be everything Yunho needs and wants because if he can’t have Yunho, Jaejoong would crumble. He’d die. 

_Yunho. Yunho-yah, my other half. I love you._

Yunho knows it. Yunho’d always known it. But somehow, with the return of their bond, it hits him like a ton of bricks and he’s so overcome, so overwhelmed, he doesn’t know what to do. Except hold Jaejoong, Pull him close and then tear away to look him in the eyes. Kiss him. Tears everywhere. Jaejoong sobbing into his shoulder.

 _It’s back_ , Yunho marvels, _back for good_. He knows it, knows it’s so strong right now, there’s absolutely nothing that will be able to take it away. Never again.

“I love you,” he whispers, “god, Jaejoong, I—“ _I love you_. He’ll never tire of saying it.

Or of hearing it. 

He’s not sure how long they stand there, arms around each other, Yunho unable to get enough of his mate. His head cups the back of Jaejoong’s head and runs the length of this spine and presses against his cheek as they kiss. And then breathe. And then kiss again.

It will never be enough.

So maybe it’s hours, maybe it’s minutes, before he finally comes back to himself. 

Someone has shut off Jaejoong’s pots and pans, and the food looks as though it has cooled. 

Eric’s leaning against the door frame to the kitchen, smiling. “I take that to mean everything’s back in order?”

Yunho smiles. He keeps an arm around Jaejoong because his mate seems to have lost the strength in his legs somewhere along the line, and Jaejoong floods their bond with gratitude.

 _Their bond_. God, it’s good to have it back.

“Couldn’t have happened at a better time,” Eric continues, “we need to talk.”

Jaejoong doesn’t want to talk. He wants to go back upstairs and _do things_. Yunho gets some very graphics images thrust into his mind and he blushes. He’d like to do those things too. But Eric looks incredibly serious.

And he owes Yunho an explanation.

“Something’s wrong? Who’s hurt?”

“Do you want to talk about that first or do you want to talk about the two of you and why it was your bond that broke?”

Yunho blinks. 

“You know why?” Jaejoong asks. 

“I’ve always known. Come sit down, you’ve just answered my question.”

They sit with their fingers intertwined and resting on Yunho’s knee. Eric sits across from them, folding his hands and leaning forward. “The spell that broke your bond was built on the fact that it’s never been as strong as it should have been. As it is right now. Because your mating happened so fast—and no one is to blame, things happen as they are meant to happen—it made it easy for the _wu_ to rip you away from the pack and your mate.”

“There’s a _wu_?” Yunho asks, blood running cold. Jaejoong inhales sharply next to him. 

“Let me finish,” Eric admonishes, “your bond has never been as strong as it could be. And it’s not anyone’s fault,” he’s quick to assure Jaejoong again, repeating: “fate plays out how it’s meant to play out. But that fact that you hid your love for so long damaged you, Jaejoong, and damaged your bond. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to fix that, to get it back to what it’s supposed to be. I mean honestly, Yunho why the hell do you think I’ve been hanging around you so often? You’re more than capable of handling gumihos and vampires all by yourself, never mind with a pack behind you. And God knows you aren’t the only pack in Korea I have to watch over. But I hung around anyway because I wanted to know both of you, to watch you and try to figure out how to fix you.”

Yunho decides, fuck the consequences. He swears at Eric, harshly and rudely enough for Jaejoong to pinch him. His distaste through their bond is strong, though Jaejoong’s too happy at having a bond to truly be upset. “You didn’t think that maybe we should have known that?”

“No,” Eric’s still smiling, like he hadn’t just been cussed out by a lesser wolf, “because you would have spent too much time on each other and neglected your pack. And I at least know you well enough that you’d never forgive yourself if you weren’t able to care for them while they were your responsibility.” 

_You know he’s right_ , Jaejoong tells him. 

Yunho does. But it still makes him angry. He knows better than to draw this out longer than it needs to be. 

“You’re stronger now,” Eric says, “Both together and separately. You’re much more powerful than when you arrived here a few days ago.”

It’s hard to tell, high as he is on the emotions of getting their bond back. But a very quick assessment with his wolf has Yunho agreeing; he feels more dominant than he has ever been.

“And that’s good, because you need to go back to your pack.”

“What happened?” Yunho asks again, and a bit of fear is gnawing at his stomach. Jaejoong squeezes his hand. _It can’t be any worse than what we’ve already gone through._

“It’s Junsu,” Eric tells him, and Yunho stiffens. “Junsu’s been seriously hurt.”


	8. Final

Yunho’s warm.

It’s the first thing Changmin notices when the Alpha steps back into the house, arms open wide. Changmin’s the first one in them, his tears spilling over as the Alpha holds him tight and coos into his ear. He’s _so proud_ of Changmin. So incredibly proud of him. He doesn’t think anyone else could have done a better job.

“Junsu got _hurt_ ,” Changmin gasps, “I let someone hurt him, I—I’m so worthless.”

He feels Jaejoong at his back, and in a moment he’s sandwiched between the two of them. There’s a moment of silence, and then all of a sudden, the pack bonds shift and Yunho’s right back to where he should be—everything is. Jinki and Yoona and Yunho and _Jaejoong_. 

Pride and gratitude and love pours into the link Changmin has to his Alpha, and it’s so incredibly overwhelming, Changmin legs go weak and he sags, unable to stand. “Changmin-ah, you were perfect. Junsu’s alive and you had enough self control to stay and protect the rest of the pack instead of tearing off after that wolf and ripping her to pieces. You kept them together, showed restraint and wisdom—that’s what it means to be Alpha. It’s not about how easy it is to break someone’s bones, but rather acknowledging that strength and knowing when to use it, and when to not. I’m sorry Junsu got hurt, I’m so sorry. But you can’t blame yourself for that. You _can’t_.”

“I can guarantee you,” Jaejoong adds, “that Junsu doesn’t blame you. It’s no one’s fault except for the person that actually did it. So be upset at her.”

“I’m so happy you’re okay,” Changmin whispers, “so happy that you’re here and I don’t have to be in charge anymore.”

His Alpha chuckles, “Junjin owes me money. He thought you’d like being Alpha and want to fight me for the position.”

“I couldn’t beat you in a fight even in my dreams,” Changmin mutters, “where is he? I’ll show him how much I liked being Alpha.”

“He didn’t come,” Jaejoong growls, “which was a good decision.”

Changmin’s legs still don’t want to work, so Jaejoong lowers him to sit on the floor, patting his head as Changmin rests against the side of the counter, breathing still labored from his tears. He finds himself with a case of hiccups.

The rest of the pack had been waiting, and Yoochun practically flies at Yunho once Changmin’s free, tears already flowing, Boa close behind. Yunho and Jaejoong sandwich them as well and one by one pack members stumble into the kitchen in various states of emotional distress to be held and cuddled and loved.

Changmin walks them up to Junsu when they’re done. His mate has finally woken up, though he is weak, since there is still silver in his bloodstream that doesn’t seem to want to come out. But he manages a smile and grips Jaejoong’s hand as tight as he can manage. 

There aren’t any dry eyes. Jaejoong’s crying because he’s so upset someone had hurt Junsu and Yunho’s crying because he’s relieved Junsu’s still alive and Junsu’s crying because he’s so happy their bond is back and Changmin’s crying because Junsu is. He’s crying because all the tension that’s been building up and threatening to overtake his sanity is leaking out of him. It’ll be fine now that Yunho’s here. Yunho is going to fix everything.

“I will,” Yunho promises, and Changmin realizes he must have said it aloud because Yunho’s holding him again, cradling him like he doesn’t weigh anything at all, “you just need to stay here with your mate. I am going to fix everything else.”

 

— 

 

This matron, or whatever, is clearly more formidable than Changmin suggests. Attacking Junsu—the submissive wolf that’s the heart and soul of a pack, that keeps them calm and happy—had been a very calculated move.

Yunho really wants to rip her head from her body. Disembowel her. Changmin had shared his memories with Yunho, as had Yoochun, and the newly re-instated Alpha is having a hard time controlling his wolf while his mind spins from the emotions. It isn’t until he feels Jaejoong’s hand on his elbow and his mate’s arms come around him that he can force his muscles to relax. With Jaejoong’s nose pressing into his back, Yunho finds he can breathe easy. “Zhou Mi’s almost here. Do you want to talk to this _wu_ before he arrives?”

It’s probably a good idea. _We can kill her before he gets here,_ Bambi growls, _she deserves death for what he has put us through._

_I’m not going to kill anybody,_ Yunho says fiercely, _I can’t do that. Not with knowing she’s Zhou Mi’s mate and Siwon’s wolf. That’s unacceptable. If it needs to be done then that is Siwon’s call to make, not mine. I will not overstep my boundaries and endanger my pack again because you happen to be pissed off._

Bambi is not pleased with this decision, not in the least, but Yunho beats him back, using his mate to center himself once more.

The _wu_ is kneeling in the center of the room, still cowed under the force of Siwon’s anger even though he’d already taken a taxi back to Seoul. The last vestiges of the other Alpha’s presence disappears as Yunho unlocks the cage and nudges the door open with his clothed elbow so he doesn’t need to touch the silver bars. 

Jaejoong waits outside, and Yunho can imagine the amused expression on his face. He’s long gotten over any inner conflict about killing the girl; Wolf says it’d just be far too messy and there’s already enough to clean as it is. He prefers to just sun himself on his beach. Besides, they’ve fixed the bond, haven’t they? And not only is it stronger, but they as individuals and as wolves are stronger too. That’s not something he can ignore. His mate’s agreement and support floods their bond and propels Yunho further inside until he sits in front of the _wu_ , cross legged. 

She’s trembling, tears slipping out of her eyes and Yunho wonders if she’s been crying since her former Alpha had left. Most likely. She’s probably dying of thirst.

Jaejoong slips away behind him and Yunho stays still, waiting until his mate comes back with a huge bottle of water and a straw. _Careful, Yunho_.

Yunho is incredibly careful, incredibly gentle, as he places the bottle in her hands and guides the straw in between her lips. “Drink,” he urges, with a gentle touch to her cheek.

It’s not his job to offer her comfort. It’s not his _place_ , though even if it were, he’s not sure she deserves it, not yet. Matron or no, she still had a part to play. Yunho’s only duty is to forgive her of that. 

“I forgive everything,” he tells her. He lifts her chin meeting her gaze until she drops her eyes and looks away. “But I’m not the one to reprimand you for the things in which you’ve participated.”

When she doesn’t respond, he remembers that her Korean isn’t all that good. _Dork_ , Jaejoong says through their bond, though affectionately.

But it’s okay. He can tell her in another way.

“Your mate is coming.” She seems to know the word mate, her hand that had been stroking her hair, freezing. “Zhou Mi.”

The hand shakes. “Mi.”

“Yes.” 

He watches her closely, feeling Jaejoong doing the same behind him: she shudders, gasps, cries out, and Yunho can only bring himself to pat her shoulder, no more. “He’ll be here soon. Think about what you need to say.”

Yunho’s not sure if she understands, but he’s said everything he needs to say. He’s about to get up when her fingers catch his sleeve. She still doesn’t look at him. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“I forgive you,” Yunho says again. He holds Jaejoong’s hand tight after locking Qian back in the cell, and breathes deep to center himself.

He forgives everything.

—

When Zhou Mi arrives, frantic and disheveled, Yunho leads hims down the stairs, well aware of the other werewolf practically vibrating with energy. He smells apprehensive, despite the hope that’s radiating off him in waves. Yunho hands Zhou Mi the key to cell. “I’m trusting you,” he says, “there’s a shower down here if you want to clean her up or whatever. If you can get her to tell us more about the Matron that would be great. I really need to eviscerate that woman.”

Yunho purposefully does not hang around once he opens the door for Zhou Mi. The Alpha hears a sob, raw and broken, and he doesn’t even know if it’s Zhou Mi or Song Qian, but either way it’s not his place. Not his pack. Not his wolves. He turns the television on to block the sounds of their reunion, whatever they may be, and shuts the door behind him.

Jaejoong’s waiting at the top of the stairs, smile spread across his face and Yunho tucks himself into his mate’s waiting arms. “Jinki’s almost here ,” Jaejoong tells him, “apparently he and Yoona need some love and attention from their Alpha before they can go back to fucking.” 

He grins, like it’s all part of a master plan. Honestly, Yunho wouldn’t put it past him. He tugs on Jaejoong’s hand, content for a few moments as he senses his pack settling down, finally able to breathe, and kisses his mate. It’s in the middle of the kitchen, right where anyone can see them, but it’s perfect. It feels so right, like everything is just clicking into place without Yunho even having to try. They don’t break for air until they hear a car in the driveway. 

Yoona’s the first through the door and she makes a beeline for Yunho. She smells like sex—they both do, Yunho notes, as he gets a whiff of Jinki—and he grins, pressing a kiss into her hair. “You _have_ been busy.”

She laughs, and he pushes her towards Jaejoong, pulling Jinki at him and squeezing his second tight.

“You,” Jinki starts, head cocked thoughtfully, “you’ve…grown. I mean. Your dominance. It’s like triple what it was.”

“I know,” Jaejoong drawls from over Yoona’s head, “isn’t it sexy?” 

“I’ve changed,” Yunho agrees seriously, “but so have you.”

“We all have,” Jinki steps away, smiling, “when’s the war council?”

“Soon. In the living room. Can you growl at anyone that’s below Yoochun while I get Song Qian? I want most of the pack to stay out of the library while we talk.”

“I’ll go stay with Sulli,” Yoona offers, and kisses her mate’s cheek before taking the stairs two at a time.

Yunho hears the shower downstairs turn off and he knows Song Qian’s ready. He waits with Jaejoong at the bottom of the stairs until the door to the bathroom opens.

Song Qian is hiding behind Zhou Mi, her fingers fisting in his shirt and her wet hair plastered to her cheek. She looks down at the floor, either unwilling or unable to raise her eyes in front of any of them.

“What do you want from her?” Zhou Mi asks, he himself keeping his gaze down in front of Yunho, “we’re—I’m in this with her. Whatever you ask. Whatever we need to do to make this better.”

_What punishment?_ Yunho knows that’s what Zhou Mi is asking. Reparation for the sins Song Qian has committed against numerous wolves, not all of them Yunho’s. 

“That’s something you need to discuss with Siwon,” Yunho tells him, with a sad smile. Siwon is perhaps one of the most compassionate wolves, even more so than Yunho himself. But compassion does have its limits and Yunho can’t speak for the wolf, especially considering the pain Song Qian has caused that pack. But he’s mostly sure Siwon won’t kill her, considering that it would do more damage to the pack than leaving her alive.

“If she wants to help,” Jaejoong offers, “she can lead us to the Matron and tell us what to expect when we get there. We can’t let her live after this, and especially not when we know she has other wolves.”

There’s a quiet exchange of Mandarin that has Zhou Mi nodding. “We’ll help. Do you have a map?”

 

— 

 

Changmin feels Yunho tug at him urgently from downstairs, and it’s with great reluctance that he leaves a sleeping Junsu. His mate still hasn’t changed into his wolf form, but Changmin had fed him a little raw meat earlier and so he knows it’s not long until Junsu’s back on his feet, silver long gone.

Jinki and Yoochun are already in the living room, and Jinki takes a moment to give Changmin a hug and flood him with pride. “You were great,” Jinki says, “lots better than I would have been.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Jinki laughs, “You’re just proving my point. All I want is Yoona. Even now, I’d really like to leave and go find somewhere private so we can—“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Changmin says, “No offense. Not when my mate still has silver riddling his body and keeping him from being completely healed.”

The second sobers. “I’m sorry about that, really.”

“He’s alive,” Changmin says, “that’s what’s important. Where’s Yunho? I want to go back up to Junsu already.”

“He’s coming,” Jaejoong says, suddenly appearing in the doorway of the living room. “No one is allowed to touch Song Qian.” Changmin feels the order cement him in place, Jaejoong borrowing Yunho’s power to make sure she isn’t hurt. 

As it is, he narrows his eyes at her as she shuffles in behind Zhou Mi. Yunho is the one that pushes her onto her knees. She presses her face into Zhou Mi’s leg as she hides from the eyes of the pack she tore apart. Changmin is still very angry with her but he knows he’s not as half as angry as her former pack will be. Zhou Mi seems to have forgiven her, at any rate, but Changmin’s not sure if that counts. He’d forgive Junsu anything, but that doesn’t mean everyone else would.

“It’s an hour’s drive,” Zhou Mi tells them, “give or take ten minutes, depending on lights.”

“What is?” Jinki asks.

“The Matron’s house.”

“Ooh, are we pulling a raid?” Yoochun sounds incredibly excited.

“Something like it. Just those of us here. I want everyone else to stay put, just in case.”

“Excellent,” Yoochun grins.

Changmin’s wolf is also excited, but Changmin finds he’s loathe to leave Junsu’s side, susceptible and without protection.

_The rest of the pack will be here_ , Junsu says into their bond, _you need to deal with that witch._

_Yunho will do that, I’m sure._

_Regardless,_ Junsu huffs, _I will be fine for a few hours. Go kick some ass, Shim Changmin._

“Are you alright with that, Changmin?” Yunho’s eyeing him, brow raised.

“What? Oh, yes. We’re fine.”

Yunho doesn’t look the least bit convinced, but he clearly doesn’t want to argue. “She’s got wolves all around the house and Song Qian’s not sure which ones are on her side and which ones aren’t so we’re going to have to be careful. The Matron is _mine_ ,” Yunho orders, “no one else is allowed to touch her, do you understand?”

Changmin’s wolf wishes he could be the one to snap the bitch in half, but he shoves the thought away. This kill belongs to his Alpha. “We leave in fifteen minutes. Be ready.”

Changmin spends the time laying next to him mate, kissing the top of his head until Junsu sighs in exasperation and summons enough energy to turn his face and kiss Changmin on his lips. “I’ll kick butt at healing while you’re gone, so come back safe.”

“I will.”

Yoona comes in as he’s leaving and he lets her crawl onto the bed and cuddle up to his mate. “She’s going to tell me about all the hot sex she’s been having, aren’t you?” Junsu teases.

“Yes,” Yoona says enthusiastically, “all the delicious details.” 

There isn’t a wolf in the house that doesn’t hear Jinki’s possessive growl; it echoes through the entire house.

“I shall live vicariously through her until I’m healthy again.” Junsu gives Changmin a look that sends blood rushing to his cock and okay, that’s terribly awkward right before such an important fight. “Think about that, Shim Changmin!” Junsu shouts, as Changmin dashes downstairs.

“Oh god,” Changmin whimpers, and very resolutely ignores the wolves piling into Yunho’s car in favor of staring out the window. He counts the trees they pass until he reaches 1000, and by then his uncomfortable boner is gone. _You’ll pay for that_ , Changmin tells Junsu, and blocks him before Junsu can come back with a witty retort and distract him. Changmin isn’t going to fail Yunho when the Alpha hasn’t even been back a day.

The house is as dilapidated as Changmin had imagined it in his mind. There’s no driveway, anything marking the way overgrown with grass and weeds. Paint is chipping off of rotting planks and shingles litter the ground, ripped off by wind and god knows what else. He can smell the mold seeping into the cracks of the house. He nearly loses his lunch.

“I smell a lot of wolves,” Yoochun says.

“Don’t kill anyone unless you absolutely must. Most of these wolves are probably prisoners anyway. And leave the Matron for me.”

They don’t wait any longer. It’s Jinki that splinters the front door with a kick of his foot. 

The last time Changmin has seen Yunho this scary had been when the gumihos had kidnapped Jaejoong. Except now he’s even stronger, especially since Jaejoong’s at his side instead of hurt, and honestly, Changmin can do nothing but watch.

It’s as if Yunho’s shining. He’s so bright, Changmin has to look away. So he turns in another direction and heads off to explore the rest of the house, vaguely aware of Yoochun following him.

“Our alpha can be incredibly scary.”

“Unbelievably so,” Changmin agrees. 

They search thoroughly, aware of the suspicious silence below them. Changmin can almost see it: the Matron pressing down on the floor to try and escape Yunho’s wrath. Yunho hissing at her, Jaejoong keeping him from breaking her neck until they have all the information they want.

Yoochun touches his elbow. “Do you hear that?”

Breathing. Shallow breathing and the faint scent of werewolf…and hope? Changmin frowns. They’ve searched several rooms so far and there’s been nothing but empty dressers and bare mattresses. 

The two of them stand in the hallway, listening carefully, before Changmin turns his gaze to the end of it. The door there is as unassuming as the rest of them, but something in his gut tells him it’s not.

It’s locked when he tries to turn the handle. Yoochun shrugs when Changmin looks at him for a cue. It only takes one kick to knock it down, splintering underneath Yoochun’s foot. There’s a few squeaks of alarm from inside, shuffling, and it’s a moment before Changmin’s eyes adjust to the dark. 

There’s werewolves inside, all of them male and chained to one another in various states of disarray. Changmin can hear Yoochun dry-retching behind him. The wolves all eye him hesitantly, as if not sure if he’s there to help or not. Changmin kneels next to the first wolf, who scoots back until he hits the wall, eyes wide.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

The wolf seems like he’d be tall, with full lips and a head of scraggly hair Changmin wants to comb out. He reaches over and grasps the manacles circling the man’s wrists and snaps them without a second thought. It only takes a moment, before the other five wolves let out hopeful yelps and scramble over to him eagerly, nearly knocking him over in their exuberance, all holding out their hands and feet with eager expressions. “Yes,” Changmin assures them, “we’re leaving. One at a time, though. Yoochun?”

Yoochun’s wiping his mouth, but he dutifully sits down and starts snapping metal, slightly surprised that none of it is silver. It speaks volumes about how weak these wolves are. One extremely eager wolf shrieks when Changmin breaks his bonds and flies at him, bowling him onto his back. The wolf has tears in his eyes and he clings to Changmin, hero worship written all over his face.

It’s Yoochun that finally pulls him off. “Gently,” he scolds, “we need to get the rest of your friends out of their bindings. I’m surprised there’s no silver.”

“Leader has silver.”

Changmin pauses over another manacle. He doesn’t smell silver.

“Your leader?” he asks, “where is he?”

“Downstairs.” The wolf pouts again, clearly upset.

“We’ll get him once we’ve freed all of you. Can you lead us down stairs?” The flash of fear is unmistakable; he’s seen it in Sulli’s eyes enough times to know it’s not related to him “She won’t hurt you,” he tells the wolf, “my Alpha is dealing with her.”

The wolf’s head cocks thoughtfully. “You aren’t Alpha?”

“No,” Changmin shakes his head and thinks _thank God_. “Will you take me downstairs? I’ll carry you if you can’t walk.” 

The wolf is unsteady so Yoochun helps him onto Changmin’s back. “What’s your name?” Changmin asks, as he walks back down the stairs easily.

“Baekhyun,” the wolf says.

“Baekhyun,” Changmin repeats, and smiles, hoping the wolf can feel it. They have to pass by the room where Yunho is, and he feels Baekhyun recoil on his back and hears him whimper as they catch sight of the Matron, still plastered to the floor in front of Yunho. 

The Alpha doesn’t look at them but Jaejoong does and anger flashes in his eyes as he sees Baekhyun. “There are more wolves upstairs,” Changmin says.

The Matron growls and Baekhyun’s whimper grows, arms tight around Changmin’s throat. Jaejoong jerks his head as if to say _move along, you’re clearly handling it fine, stop bothering my mate,_ and Changmin continues on his way. “You don’t have to fear her anymore,” he tells Baekhyun.

He’s not convinced, Changmin can feel it, but Baekhyun at least relaxes his hold a little and that’s something. Baekhyun leads him down a flight of stairs and the smell of silver is nearly overwhelming. He’ll need some help. He sets Baekhyun on his feet, steadying him, and a moment later Yoochun appears at his elbow.

It takes awhile to orient themselves, silver dulling their sense, but they eventually find the wolf. He’s powerful, not as much as Changmin, but perhaps on par with Yoochun, which explains the need for silver. He’s half out of it, head lolled to the side, growling with what energy he has left until he sees Baekhyun coming up behind them. “It’s ok. They’re helping. They caught her.”

It takes some effort. The chains are thick and difficult to pry off because they burn even through the cloth Changmin’s wrapped around his hands. He assumes the reason this wolf is down here is because he’s the only one of them more dominant than the matron and able to subdue her.

The wolf can’t speak for reasons Changmin can’t detect, but once Yoochun finds his way downstairs, they’re able to lift him onto the third’s back and Yoochun takes Baekhyun. The basement wolf is powerful, about as dominant as Yoochun, Changmin guesses, but he seems content to submit to Yoochun and his careful ministrations.

They prop the two wolves up against each other and Changmin catches a look the two of them share that he knows all too well. It makes him smile and answers his question about why Baekhyun had been the one to lead him downstairs. “Thank you,” Baekhyun says, and Changmin knows he’s speaking for both of them.

There’s a sudden crunch that sounds suspiciously like bone and Changmin doesn’t even flinch. His wolf is howling in satisfaction and that’s all he needs. “You’ll never have to fear her again,” he promises the wolves, and waits for his Alpha to come fetch him.

 

— 

 

Yunho lets Jinki deal with the new wolves. Killing the Matron had sapped the Alpha of his strength, not because it’d been difficult but because killing anything depresses him, and he finds that he wants nothing more than to collapse onto his bed and curl around his mate. 

But he checks on Junsu first, happy when he finds him awake and being fed strips of barely cooked meat. Junsu gives him a smile, petting the inside of Changmin’s wrist as he swallows. 

“You seem to be doing better.”

“I think I’ll be walking by tonight, so long he keeps feeding me.”

“You’ve always healed fast, even for a wolf.” Yunho squeezes a lump in the blankets that he knows is Junsu’s foot. 

“Did she tell you why she did it? All these things?”

“Why does anyone try and kill other people? Power. Money. She couldn’t get paid for Sulli if Sulli wasn’t with her. So she tracked her, found us, knew she wouldn’t be able to beat me in a fight and had Song Qian break our bond so we’d all be weak and she’d be able to take Sulli back without any trouble.”

“But now she’s dead.”

“Now she’s dead,” Yunho nods, “and serves her right. People do not fuck with me or my pack or my mate and live. Ever.”

“It’s a little…like jeez. She’s crazy. All this because she would lose money. People are dumb.”

“They are,” Yunho agrees, “though thankfully our pack seems to have escaped the dumb gene.”

“Thanks to your leadership,” Junsu tells him, with a little pat to Changmin’s knee, “what about the other wolves?”

“I don’t know yet. They might stay, they might leave. I’ll talk with their Alpha tomorrow once they’re all healed up and fed and see what he wants to do. ”

“I wouldn’t mind expanding our pack.”

“I’m glad,” Yunho smiles, “but there’s apparently a lot more of them up north. Eric’s leaning towards letting them be by themselves but we’ll see. Don’t worry about it right now. You just get better.” 

“Eric knows the rest of his pack?”

“Eric knows everyone,” Yunho sighs, “and everything. He’s practically omniscient.”

Junsu doesn’t look convinced, but he’ll learn. 

Yunho watches them a moment more, smiling as Junsu goes back to pulling pieces of meat from in between Changmin’s fingers. The sneaky flash of tongue against them is not unnoticed, and Yunho decides to leave them be, content that they’re safe.

Song Qian’s waiting for him downstairs, Zhou Mi smiling brightly with his hand on her shoulder. Yunho manages to smile back when he feels Jaejoong come up behind him and pass a hand across his lower back in comfort.

“We’re going back to the pack,” Zhou Mi tells them, “ _our_ pack. But before we do, she wanted to tell you…your bond. No one will be able to break it again, not ever. She can tell how incredibly strong it is now and there are no cracks that any magic can exploit.”

She raises her head a moment, not looking at Yunho, but briefly meeting Jaejoong’s gaze. “Safe,” she says, and then looks back down at the floor.

“You’ll be okay driving back?” 

“We’ll be fine. Siwon is going to be there when we arrive and…it’ll be fine. She’s going to start over. Give herself a new name.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Yunho smiles, “text me when you get there, please?”

“I will,” Zhou Mi promises.

Yunho chooses to not see them out. He hands Yoochun his cellphone on the way upstairs with instructions to screen his calls. “You’re in charge for awhile because I don’t think anyone else is up for it at the moment.”

“Boa wanted to watch some movies anyway.” Yoochun laughs when he catches sight of Jaejoong’s raised eyebrow, “no really. She’s got a stack of movies for us to get through. We’ll be in the living room staring at the television if anyone has a problem, I promise.”

“Thanks,” Yunho smiles, resting an arm around Jaejoong’s shoulders. Changmin’s still with Junsu and Jinki’s got his hands full taking care of the Matron’s former prisoners with Yoona, so there won’t be too much for Yoochun and Boa to handle. “Keep people away from out room for awhile please.”

“Will do,” Yoochun leers.

Yunho hits him over the head, just because he can.

 

—*play this*—

 

Yunho craves Jaejoong, needs to be with him, have the hurt of killing another wolf soothed by the only person that can: his mate, the love of his life. Indeed, as Jaejoong has said, his other half.

Someone had changed their sheets, and the bed smells fresh. The cool cloth wraps around Yunho’s body after he shucks his clothes and Jaejoong fits against him easily, skin warm.

Jaejoong’s face is so bright. It’s relaxed, happy, and Yunho traces it lightly. He can feel that Jaejoong doesn’t have any regrets, even after Eric telling them their bond had never been what it could be. Jaejoong truly is not upset, he loves everything that they have. Yunho can feel it, no room for doubt or guessing or anything but confidence: confidence in everything they are and everything they’re going to be. 

“You didn’t, you know.”

“I didn’t what?” Jaejoong asks.

“Completely block me, back then.”

There’s a flash of _you knew?!_ through their bond before Jaejoong scoffs, and demands an explanation.

“I didn’t know we were mates, but…I was still drawn to you. I couldn’t ever…stop thinking about you, thinking about how to get you to open up to me, thinking about how to get you to accept the pack. I wondered if maybe someone had hurt you and it made me angry and I wanted to hurt them. I wondered if maybe you were dating someone and didn’t want anyone to know. It pissed me off that maybe there was someone seeing your heart, your desires, and your fears before me. I didn’t want you showing anyone before me.”

_We really were drawn to him_ , Bambi thinks, a little awed.

“Why haven’t I heard this until now?” Jaejoong asks.

“I didn’t,” Yunho starts, and falters. Why _hasn’t_ he said anything? “I guess I didn’t think it mattered. I thought all of that was over and done with so I put it behind me. Jesus, Jaejoong, I—“ he swallows. “I was literally so protective over you and I didn’t even realize it.”

“Neither did I,” Jaejoong murmurs.

“I loved you and I had no idea.” No clue. It had never crossed his mind that fretting over Jaejoong, worrying about Jaejoong, wanting the best for Jaejoong, when he had barely even known the werewolf, meant that Yunho _loved_ him. 

It means it now, of course. Yunho does all those things and more and no one would ever question that it’s for any other reason than love. 

Everything he does for Jaejoong is because of love. Yunho loves Jaejoong so much, doing something without him has no meaning. 

“Do you know when you made me happiest?” Jaejoong asks, and a finger traces the ridge of Yunho’s nose. “When you trusted me. When you gave me space even though you didn’t want to do it and when you treated me like a member of the pack even though I snubbed all of you. I felt so guilty but so…”

_So,_ Yunho thinks, his thumb dragging against the skin of Jaejoong’s cheek, feeling the vein pulsing there. 

_Loved_ , Bambi finishes for him, _you felt loved_.

“Yes,” Jaejoong whispers, “even though I didn’t deserve it. You respected me even when you didn’t want to,” _and it only made me fall for you more,_ he continues.

“Do you remember…in the car, on the way to Ara’s…when I grabbed your hand?” Yunho asks. He does so now, sliding his fingers down Jaejoong’s arm and intertwining them. “There was this moment, this nanosecond, where I felt this burst of joy from you, this sheer happiness and it was so overwhelming because I could feel how much you liked it. _You liked it when I touched you. You liked that I was near you_. Finally. It was this ray of sunshine that stabbed into my despairing heart and I thought—maybe now. Maybe now he’ll talk to me. Maybe now he’ll _look_ at me. Maybe now he’ll trust me.”

“I’ve always trusted you.”

It’s a wonder they aren’t crying with all the emotions flowing between them. But even as he thinks it, he sees a teardrop gathering at the corner of Jaejoong’s eye and Yunho wipes it away. “I’ve always trusted you because you trusted me first,” Jaejoong says, “and no matter how hard I tried to keep you away from me I could tell. I could tell that you would respect me no matter what.”

“Because I love you.”

Because they’re _meant_ to love each other. No matter if they’re werewolves, no matter if they had been just humans, no matter if they had been stars born in the sky, paths destined to cross for eternity. No matter their form. No matter their struggles, their failings, or their weaknesses. 

Because Yunho forgives everything.

“You taught me that, Jaejae. You taught me patience, caring, persistence. You gave me a reason to never give up on anyone. I know I preached forgiveness a lot, even before you were in the pack but I didn’t truly, _really_ , mean it until you. Until I wanted to fix you. And then you came to me and said _mate_ and I—I realized how often I had thought of kicking you out or making you tell me and. And I just—” This time it’s Jaejoong that wipes away his tears. “Kim Jaejoong, I would be nothing with you. Literally, every principle I stand on has been affirmed by you. Every important decision I have ever made you have been there, in some way or other.” _I am nothing if you are not here_ , Yunho says. Because he can’t talk anymore. His throat is dry from talking and his vision is blurry with tears, his body shaking with emotions he can no longer pretend to control. So he lets Jaejoong feel. He clutches Jaejoong to him and cries onto his shoulder, the two of them sobbing out their insecurity and fear and hurt until there’s nothing left. Until it’s all out on the table. Every moment between them recognized, every second spent away from each other acknowledged, every feeling stuck in their hearts _known_. 

Loved.

Yunho burns this into his memory. 

Jaejoong is breathtaking, even with tear tracks streaking his face, illuminated by the light coming from underneath the crack of the door and the lamp across the bedroom. Yunho feels like he _knows_ Jaejoong, for the first time, all over again. There is nothing about his mate he doesn’t understand, and their bond is open so wide, so strong, Yunho can actually feel his own fingers on Jaejoong’s skin through Jaejoong’s nerves. There is nothing more to hide. They have no reason to hide anything ever again.

He leans down to kiss Jaejoong simply to know him. To feel him. Appreciate him.

Yunho’s still holding Jaejoong’s hand and he squeezes it, again, like he had so many years ago and waits. He’s not disappointed; Jaejoong overwhelms Yunho with his joy, with how _happy_ he is when he is touched. Kissed. Everything.

Jaejoong floods their bond with gratitude for _everything_.

“I am just as useless without you as you are without me, Jung Yunho, don’t ever forget that.” 

Jaejoong tucks his head into Yunho’s neck, and he breathes in deep. Yunho feels Jaejoong’s lungs expand and he wraps his arms tightly around his mate until they’re comfortable, legs tangled, hearts beating against each other easily. 

It’s the first peaceful night of sleep he’s had since becoming a werewolf. His first peaceful night that he doesn’t have _anything_ to cause him worry. 

Everything is exactly the way it should be.

_Forever_ , Jaejoong reminds him.

_Forever_ , Yunho agrees, and they fall asleep.


End file.
